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THE 

TREE  HARBOR  CONTEST 

AT  105  ANGELES 


AN  ACCOUNT  OP  THE  LONG   TIGHT  WAGED  BY  THE  PEOPLE 

Or  SOUTHERN  CALIEORNIA  TO  SECURE  A  HARBOR 

LOCATED  AT  A  POINT  OPEN  TO 

COn  PETITION 


"There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 

Which,  taken  at  the  flood  leads  on  to  fortune ; 

Omitted,  all  the  voyage  of  their  life 

Is  bound  In  shallows  and  in  miseries."— Julius  Caesar. 


By  CHARLES  DWIGHT  WILLSRD 


LOS   ANGELES,   CALIFORNIA 

KINGSLEY-BARNES  &  NEUNER  COMPANY,  Publishers 

JULY.  1899 


i 


THE  AUTHOR  DEDICATES  THIS  BOOK  TO 

JOHN  F.  FRANCIS, 

NOT  FROM   ANY  SENTIMENT  OF  PERSONA!,  REGARD,  ALTHOUGH  SUCH  A 
SENTIMENT    EXISTS,    BUT   BECAUSE   HE   IS    AN    ADMIRABLE    REPRE- 
SENTATIVE  OF  THE  TYPE  OF  MODERN  AMERICAN  CITIZENSHIP 
THAT  UNDERSTANDS  AND    ACCEPTS    ITS    RESPONSIBILITIES 
TO    THE    GENERAL    PUBLIC,    AND    THAT    FINDS    IN    ITS 
INDIVIDUAL      PROSPFR<TY      SOMETHING      ABOVE 
AND    BEYOND    THE  MEANS  FOR  PLEASURE 
,     O5t      THE     OPPORTUNITY     FOR     CON- 
TINUED   SELFXSfl    GAIN. 


Copyrighted  July,  1899 
By  CHABLXS  DWIQHT  WILLARC 

Los  Angelas,  Cal. 


BY  TRANSFER 
JUN  20 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I.  NATURE  OF  THE  CONTEST.  River  and  harbor 
bills.  Corporate  influences.  Prejudice  against  the  Southern  Pacific  Rail- 
way in  California.  Effect  of  the  contest  on  the  city  of  Los  Angeles. 

CHAPTER  II.  WHY  THE  HARBOR  WAS  NEEDED.  Opportu- 
nity for  trans-Pacific  Commerce.  Oriental  business  at  present.  Advan- 
tages of  a  southwestern  port.  San  Pedro  a  natural  harbor. 

CHAPTER  III.  THE  ANCIENT  PORT  OF  SAN  PEDRO.  Dis- 
covery and  exploration.  The  Mission  era.  Dana's  yisit.  Description 
of  the  harbor. 

CHAPTER  IV.  WORK  ON  THE  INTERIOR  HARBOR.  Possi- 
bilities for  development.  The  first  appropriation.  Result  of  the  work . 
The  great  boom  of  iS87.  Birth  of  the  deep-sea  harbor  idea. 

Tf> 

CHAPTER  V.  ENTER  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE.  A 
unique  organization.  Scope  of  its  work.  Deep-sea  agitation  begins. 
Senator  Fjp-fj  visits  the  harbor.  His  singular  attitude  on  the  question. 

CHAPTER  VI.  THE  GOVERNMENT  CONSIDERS  THE  OUTER 
HARBOR.  The  Board  of  1890-1.  It  reports  for  San  Pedro.  Mr. 
Huntington  succeeds  Gov.  Stanford  to  the  presidency  of  the  road. 

CHAPTER  VII.  THE  SOUTHERN  PACIFIC'S  CHANGE  OF 
BASE.  The  early  history  ot  Santa  Monica.  Redondo  as  a  port.  The 
Terminal  Railway.  A  question  of  local  commerce. 

CHAPTER  VIII.  THE  ISSUE  TAKES  SHAPE.  Senator  Fel ton's 
effort  for  a  deep-sea  appropriation.  The  Hood  telegram.  Mr.  T.  E. 
Gibbon.  A  new  Board  is  appointed  to  investigate. 

CHAPTER  IX.  THE  CRAIGHILL  BOARD.  A  public  session. 
Attitude  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  Criticism  of  the  Southern 
Pacific.  The  report  of  the  Board  for  San  Pedro. 

CHAPTER  X.  A  DECISION  THAT  DID  NOT  DECIDE.  General 
Forman's  mission  to  Washington.  His  report  pleads  for  unity.  W.  H. 
Mills  speaks  for  the  railroad  at  the  Redondo  banquet.  The  issue  is  re- 
opened. Work  of  the  Los  Angeles  Times. 

CHAPTER  XL  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE  TAKES  A 
VOTE.  Completion  of  the  Long  Wharf  at  Santa  Monica.  Mr.  Hunt- 
ington speaks.  Mr.  Crawley's  resolution.  Combat  in  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  The  members  choose  San  Pedro. 

CHAPTER  XII.  THE  WINTER  OF  OUR  DISCONTENT.  White 
in  the  Senate.  Mr.  Huntington's  strength.  The  Eastern  newspapers 
take  notice. 

CHAPTER  XIII.  THE  FREE  HARBOR  LEAGUE.  A  savage 
circular.  The  League  is  formed.  Col.  Benyaurd's  project.  The  inner 
harbor  idea. 


, 282287 


e  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

CHAPTER  XIV.  THE  TRAP  IS  SPRUNG.  The  League  sends 
delegates  to  Washington.  Mr.  Hermann  of  Oregon  arranges  matters. 
He  writes  a  letter. 

CHAPTER  XV.  THE  DOUBLE  APPROPRIATION  SCHEME. 
Mr.  McLachlan's  telegram.  His  peculiar  position.  The  Chamber  of 
Commerce  on  the  rack. 

CHAPTER  XVI.  THE  STRUGGLE  IN  THE  SENATE.  Los  An- 
geles delegations  before  the  Committee  on  Commerce.  The  two  reports. 
Senator  White's  amendment,  His  speech.  Mr.  Frye  responds.  The 
compromise. 

CHAPTER  XVII.  ONE  MORE  FINAL  DECISION.  Reception  to 
White  and  Perkins.  The  Walker  Board  appointed.  Mr.  Morgan.  Ses- 
sions of  the  Board  ;  its  report. 

CHAPTER  XVIII.  THE  SECRETARY  OF  DELAY.  Feeling 
against  the  railroad.  Russel  A.  Alger,  Secretary  of  War.  His  collec- 
tion of  excuses.  The  appropriation  in  the  House.  Mr.  Cooper's  speech. 

CHAPTER  XIX.  THE  JUBILEE  AT  SAN  l4cDRO.  Ceremonies 
at  the  beginning  of  the  work. 

CHAPTER  XX.  THE  PRESENT  WORK.  The  Contractors. 
Nature  of  the  specifications.  The  inner  and  outer  harbor.  Efforts  for 
farther  development. 


ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 

The  writer  finds  himself  under  obligation  to  a  number  of  people  and 
organizations  in  the  preparation  of  this  book,  for  courtesies  of  various 
kinds,  and  he  takes  this  means  of  expressing  his  gratitude  :  To  the 
Land  of  Sunshine,  the  Capital,  Terminal  Railway,  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, City  Librarian  Mrs.  H.  C.  Wadleigh,  Harry  E.  Brook,  Captain 
J.  J.  Meyler,  C.  V.  Barton,  J.  F.  Francis,  W.  B.  Cline,  F.  K.  Rule,  Ter- 
minal Land  Co.,  Southern  California  Lumber  Co.,  J.  R.  Newberry,  H. 
Jevne,  W.C.  Patterson,  F.  W.  Braun,  L.  W.  Blinn,  Kerckhoff-Cuzner 
Co.,  Cal  Byrne,  J.  E.  Plater,  N.  Blackstone,  E.  W.  Jones,  Bishop  &  Co., 
N.  Bonfilio,  J.  Ross  Clark,  K.  Cohn  &  Co.,  Los  Angeles  Farming  and 
Milling  Co.,  Maier  &  Zobelein,  Boston  Store,  Coulter  Dry  Goods  Co., 
Harris  &  Frank,  Geo.  S.  Patton,  T.  E.  Gibbon,  J.  D.  Hooker,  D.  C.  Mc- 
Garvin,  Will  Knippenberg,  Chas.  Weir,  W.  D.  Woolwine,  Frank  Wig- 
gins, Harry  E.  Andrews,  Harry  Chandler. 


THE  TWO  VIEWS. 


Senator  Berry  of  Arkansas 
in  the  San  Pedro-Santa  Mon- 
ica Debate  before  the  Senate, 
May  nth,  1899  : 

Take  it  all  in  all  this  is  the 
most  extraordinary  proposi- 
tion I  have  ever  known  to  be 
submitted  to  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States. 

I  do  not  believe  there  is  a 
man  throughout  the  whole 
United  States,  save  and  ex- 
cept Mr.  Huntington,  who 
would  have  had  the  assurance, 
in  the  face  of  the  reports  of 
the  army  officers,  to  have 
come  to  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  and  asked  them 
to  give  him  $3,000,000  in 
money  to  build  a  breakwater 
to  serve  his  private  interests. 

It  is  much  better  that  no 
deep-water  harbor  should  ever 
be  had,  better  far  that  the 
money  should  be  utterly  and 
absolutely  thrown  to  the 
winds,  than  that  we  should 
make  thousands  of  people  be- 
lieve that  the  appropriation 
was  made,  not  in  the  public 
interests,  but  in  order  to  pro- 
mote the  private  interests  of 
individuals,  be  those  individ- 
uals whom  they  may,  whether 
the  most  powerful  man  in  the 
land  or  the  humblest  citizen 
who  walks  this  Union.  In 
either  case,  if  it  be  once  un- 
derstood that  the  Senate  will 
be  controlled  by  the  reports  of 
private  engineers  made  for 
private  individuals,  then  Mr. 
President,  the  River  and  Har- 
bor Bill  will  no  longer  be  con- 
sidered for  the  best  interests 
of  the  entire  republic,  but  it 
will  be  solely  a  question  as  to 
who  can  bring  the  greatest  in- 
fluence to  bear. 


Senator  Frye  of  Maine  in 
the  San  Pedro -Santa  Monica 
Debate  before  the  Senate,  May 
i2th,  1899. 

Oh,  it  is  too  paltry  to  un- 
dertake to  stop  any  legislation 
with  that  cheap  demagogical 
cry  that  because  Huntington 
has  done  it,  no  help  can  be 
given  to  Huntington.  He 
employs  today  75,000  men ; 
pays  them  their  wages  when 
they  are  due,  and  there  never 
has  been  a  laboring  man  who 
has  worked  for  him  to  whom 
he  has  not  given  his  wages 
the  day  they  were  due.  One 
instance  I  know  where  a  rail- 
road was  a  total  wreck  and 
owed  the  laborers  $500,000, 
and  Mr.  Huntington  put  his 
hand  into  his  pocket,  gave  the 
$500,000  to  the  railroad, 
wrecked  as  it  was,  took  the 
wrecked  road  as  security,  and 
put  his  energy  and  courage 
into  the  railroad,  and  brought 
it  up  to  life,  activity  and  value. 
.  .  .  Mr,  Huntington  is 
not  bulling  the  stock  markets, 
nor  bearing  them.  He  is  not 
cornering  wheat  or  flour.  He 
is  engaged  in  enormous  enter- 
prises, the  results  of  which 
are  building  up  the  commerce 
of  this  republic,  and  in  all  his 
enterprises  he  is  successful. 


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CHAPTER  I. 
THE  NATURE  OF  THE  CONTEST. 

THE  Congress  of  the  United  States  passes  every  year  a 
bill  for  the  improvement  of  rivers  and  harbors,  con- 
taining appropriations  that  vary  in  total  from  twelve  to 
fifteen  millions  of  dollars. 

This  is  for  expenditure  direct.  In  addition  to  that,  it 
adopts  each  year  a  number  of  projects  for  river  and  harbor 
improvement,  for  which  sums  amounting  to  an  average  of 
over  seven  millions  a  year  are  subsequently  paid  out  through 
a  general  appropriation  bill.* 

The  measure  which  is  technically  known  as  the  "River 
and  Harbor  Bill"  originates  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives in  the  committee  of  that  name.  After  it  has  been  acted 
upon  by  the  House,  it  goes  up  to  the  Senate,  where  it  is  con- 
sidered first  by  the  Committee  on  Commerce — for  the  up- 
per chamber  has  no  River  and  Harbor  committee — and  then 
by  the  whole  Senate.  If  amendments  are  made  by  the  Sen- 
ate— which  usually  happens — the  bill  is  likely  to  pass 
through  the  hands  of  a  Conference  Committee,  made  up  of 
members  from  both  houses,  before  it  is  finally  adopted  and 
becomes  a  law. 

The  process  of  legislation  by  Congress  is  long  and  tedious 
enough,  even  if  the  measure  under  consideration  is  gener- 
ally acceptable  and  free  from  complication;  but  the  River 
and  Harbor  bill,  which  is  a  vast  composite  of  special  and  in- 
dividual interests,  extends  as  a  rule  from  one  end  of  the  ses- 

*For  example,  the  bill  of  1896,  of  which  the  San  Pedro  project  formed 
part,  contained  $11,452,115  of  direct  appropriation,  i.  e.  money  to  be 
paid  without  further  action  by  Congress,  on  definitely  specified  work. 
It  also  contained  projects  which,  according  to  the  estimates  of  the  en- 
gineers, might  call  for  a  total  of  $60,623,871.91.  These  projects  would 
presently  be  submitted  to  contractors,  and  bids  taken  on  them.  As  a 
rule,  the  bids  would  be  under  the  specified  sums  :  sometimes,  as  in  the 
case  of  San  Pedro,  requiring  less  than  50  per  cent.  The  total  amount 
needed  for  the  project  being  thus  established,  it  is  thereafter  appropri- 
ated in  parts,  not  exceeding  25  per  cent  of  the  total  per  annum,  in  the 
Sundry  Civil  Appropriation  bill. 


io  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

sion  to  the  other,  and  permeates,  with  doubtful  influence, 
the  whole  course  of  the  legislation  by  which  it  is  sur- 
rounded. 

The  customary  off-hand  opinion  of  the  American  voter 
with  reference  to  the  River  and  Harbor  bill  is  that  it  is 
principally  made  up  of  big  steals — that  it  represents  a  sys- 
tematic and  organized  pilfering  of  the  government  by  rail- 
roads, steamship  companies,  contractors  and  promoters, 
aided  and  abetted  by  the  various  communities  which  the  im- 
provements would  advantage.  Such  a  taint  will  of  neces- 
sity attach  to  all  measures  that  directly  affect  the  business 
interests  of  individuals,  and  it  is  only  through  the  exercise 
of  the  utmost  discretion  by  the  authorities  of  the  govern- 
ment, both  in  the  system  under  which  the  work  is  done  and 
in  the  selection  of  desirable  projects,  that  actual  scandal  is 
avoided.* 

That  it  is  not  always  avoided,  the  extraordinary  experi 
ence  of  the  people  of  Los  Angeles,  in  their  effort  to  secure  a 
harbor  not  under  corporate  control — an  experience  which  is 
to  be  set  forth  in  detail  in  this  narration — will  show. 

The  difficulties  that  surround  the  government  in  its  work 
of  river  and  harbor  improvement  are  greatly  enhanced 
by  a  lack  of  discrimination  and  too  often  by  a  moral  ob- 
tuseness  on  the  part  of  the  communities  whose  interests  are 
involved.  It  is  precisely  because  the  case  of  Los  Angeles, 
struggling  for  an  open  harbor,  and  at  last,  after  a  seven 
years'  fight,  winning  its  cause,  is  analogous  to  the  situation 
of  numerous  other  American  cities,  that  this  story  needs 
to  be  told  in  full,  and  to  be  given  to  the  people  in  per- 
manent book  form. 

It  is  the  established  policy  of  this  government  to  make 
such  improvements  in  its  rivers  and  lakes  as  may  be  needed 
for  the  interior  commerce  of  the  States,  and  to  throw  open 
the  coast  line,  by  the  development  of  new  harbors  and  the 
maintenance  of  those  already  in  existence,  for  our  own  ves- 
bels  and  those  of  foreign  nations.  But  there  is  in  this  policy 
no  warrant  for  the  attempt  now  and  again  made  by  design- 
ing corporations,  to  bribe  communities  into  selling  their 

*  The  name  by  which   this  measure  is  generally  known  among  the 
members  of  the  House  is  "  the  Beef  Barrel." 


THE  TRUSTS  IN  POLITICS.  n 

birthright  of  commercial  freedom  for  the  mess  of  pottage 
of  a  few  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  government  appro- 
priation. 

The  consideration  of  such  a  topic  comes  not  inoppor- 
tunely at  a  time  when  corporate  wealth  is  rapidly  drawing 
together  in  giant  combinations  that  are  destined,  beyond 
doubt,  to  play  an  important  part  in  the  legislation  of  the 
future.  As  these  organizations  increase  in  strength,  and 
knit  more  closely  the  ties  that  hold  them  to  one  another,  the 
American  people  as  a  whole  are  likely  to  undergo  a  series  of 
trials  similar  to  those  that  for  the  past  three  decades  have 
beset  the  residents  of  California — particularly  in  the 
northern  and  central  sections  of  the  State — who  know  by 
hard  experience  what  it  means  to  be  subject,  in  business 
matters  to  the  control,  and  in  politics  to  the  influence,  of  one 
all-powerful  corporation.  The  process  by  which  the  trusts 
are  destined  to  be  drawn  into  politics  is  as  simple  as  it  is 
inevitable.  The  people  believe  these  combinations  to  be  a 
source  of  harm,  and  they  will  demand  the  passage  of  laws, 
both  by  Congress  and  the  state  legislatures,  that  will  ac- 
complish their  destruction.  Will  the  trusts  tamely  submit? 
Not  while  the  law  of  self-preservation  continues  in  force;  not 
while  expert  lobbyists  may  be  had  to  hire;  not  while  party 
workers  of  the  mercenary  class  stand  ready  to  control 
caucuses  and  primaries  and  secure  the  nomination  of  pliable 
men.  The  managers  of  trusts  and  corporations  are,  perhaps, 
quite  as  conscientious  as  other  men.  They  may  refuse  to 
bribe  officials;  but  there  is  nothing  in  our  scheme  of  polit- 
ical morality  to  prevent  them  from  assisting  friends  to 
political  honors.  If  Congress  and  the  state  legislatures 
succeed  in  passing  laws  which  are  obnoxious  to  the  trusts, 
then  the  latter  will  be  "driven  into  politics"  just  as  the 
Southern  Pacific  has  been  in  California.  Thus  the  experi- 
ence of  the  people  of  this  State  may  be,  within  a  short  time, 
repeated  on  a  larger  scale  all  over  the  Union. 

Let  it  be  understood  at  the  outset,  however,  that  this  book 
is  not  conceived  in  any  spirit  of  opposition  to  railways  or 
corporations  in  general,  nor  with  any  animus  against  the 
Southern  Pacific  in  particular.  The  writer  will  frankly  ad- 
mit that  when  the  harbor  contest  was  in  progress,  he  was  an 
active  opponent  of  the  railroad  and  its  plans,  and  that  he  did 


12  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

what  he  could  as  a  newspaper  writer,  and  as  an  officer  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  to  assist  the  San  Pedro  location. 
But  the  struggle  is  now  at  an  end.  The  "Free  Harbor"  is 
practically  a  fait  accompli;  for  the  contract  has  been  let,  the 
work  is  under  way,  and  the  government  is  completely  and 
irrevocably  committed  to  that  site.  The  writer  is,  there- 
fore, no  longer  in  the  situation  which  in  former  years  befell 
the  residents  of  Los  Angeles,  viz.,  to  take  one  side  or  the 
other — for  the  lines  of  demarkation  are  now  broken  down 
and  obliterated — but,  on  the  contrary,  he  approaches  this 
work  in  the  spirit  of  the  historian,  who  will  do  justice  to 
both  factions  and  will  narrate  the  events  just  as  they  hap- 
pened. 

There  is  an  impression  among  Eastern  people  that  the 
residents    of    this     State    entertain  a  violent,  unreasoning 
prejudice    against    the     Southern     Pacific    railroad,     and 
that     populistic     ideas     are     generally     much     in     vogue 
among    us.       The    latter    belief    has    been    strengthened 
and  confirmed  by  the  election  of  three  Populists  to  Con- 
gress   from    Southern    California    districts.     As    a    mat- 
ter of  fact,  there  are  fewer  populists  in  this  section  than  in 
most  of    the    western    Congressional    districts    that    cover 
agricultural  territory,  but  by  the  hazard    of    fusion    pol- 
itics these  nominations  chanced    to    fall    to    the    Populist 
party,    which,    in   conjunction   with    the    Democracy,  won 
several   elections.     The  people   of   this    State,   particularly 
those    of    the    Southern    section,    are    largely    emigrants 
from  other  portions    of    the    Union.       Broadened    by    the 
experience    that    comes     from    travel    and     from    living 
under  different  circumstances    and   institutions,   they    are 
less     likely   than   people     of     a     more     conservative     cast 
of  life  to  yield  to  prejudice  of  any  kind,  least  of  all  to 
a  desire  foolishly  to  oppose    the.  railroad  that  first  con- 
nected their  adopted  home  with  Eastern  civilization.     It  is 
true  that  there  existed  at  one  time  in  the  State,  with  its  active 
headquarters  in  San  Francisco,  an  element  which  was  known 
as  the  "Sand  Lot" — a  name  which  was  given  from  the  loca- 
tion where  Denis  Kearney,  the  agitator,  was  wont  to  hold 
his  meetings;  and  the  railroad  was  to  this  element  the  bete 
noire  to  which  all  the  misfortunes  that  befell  California  in  a 
time  of  a  general  financial  depression  were  attributed.     The 


14  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

days  of  Sand  Lot  meetings  have  long  since  passed,  and,  as  ii 
to  point  a  happy  moral,  the  very  location  where  they  were 
formerly  held  is  now  covered  by  beautiful  buildings.  The 
element  that  still  bears  the  name  has  shrunk  to  insignificant 
proportions;  its  spirit  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  wild  utter- 
ances of  some  political  demagogue,  or  the  reckless  and  ex- 
travagant denunciation  of  the  railroad  by  some  newspaper 
that  seeks  by  that  device  to  attract  attention  from  the  inju- 
dicious.* 


*In  the  debate  on  the  Santa  Monica  or  San  Pedro  appropriation  in  the 
Senate,  May  12th,  1896,  Senator  Perkins  said,  in  discussing  this  topic  of 
anti-railway  prejudice  in  California  : 

I  cannot  permit  to  pass  unchallenged  the  remarks  made  by  the  Sen- 
ator from  Missouri  [Mr.  Vest]  and  by  the  Senator  from  Maine  [Mr.  Frye]. 

The  Senator  from  Missouri  said  :  "  Unfortunately  Mr.  Huntington 
is  a  political  factor  in  California.  They  test  every  man's  competency 
and  qualification  for  office  there  by  the  question,  '  Is  he  for  Huntington 
or  against  him  ?  '  You  can't  hold  a  town  meeting  but  what  the  question 
is,  'Is  this  man  a  Huntington  man  or  not  a  Huntington  man  ? '  " 

Then  the  Senator  from  Maine  said,  referring  to  some  remarks  which 
had  be.en  made  by  my  distinguished  colleague  (Mr.  White):  "This  sav- 
ors of  the  slogan  of  the  Sand  L/ots  of  the  Golden  Gate,  where  the  name 
of  Huntington  is  used  to  conjure  with  to  frighten  babies,  and  used  by 
demagogues  to  make  weak-kneed  politicians  tremble." 

Mr.  President,  I  dislike  exceedingly  to  refer  on  this  floor  to  any 
gentleman  who  is  not  a  member  of  this  body.  .  .  .  But  I  say  that 
charge  is  a  libel  on  the  fair  name  of  the  good  people  of  California,  and  I 
should  be  false  to  those  I  represent  if  I  permitted  the  charge  of  the 
Senators  from  Maine  and  Missouri  to  pass  unchallenged.  The 
people  of  California  have  no  prejudices  against  Mr.  Huntington 
and  his  associates.  I  know  nothing  against  Mr.  Huntington 
to  his  discredit,  unless  it  be  his  own  testimony  before  a  Congres- 
sional committee,  and  certain  letters  which,  it  is  alleged,  he  wrote  to  an 
associate  upon  the  board  of  directors  of  the  company  with  which  he 
was  connected.  .  .  .  But  I  repel  the  charge  that  the  people  of 
California  seek  office  by  declaiming  against  him  or  his  associates,  or  by 
advocating  that  which  he  desires,  or  by  opposing  it.  ... 

Mr.  President,  the  people  of  California  in  city,  county  and  state,  gave 
most  liberally  toward  building  the  first  Transcontinental  railroad.  They 
were  in  sympathy  with  the  promoters,  because  the  latter  were  in  touch 
with  the  people  at  that  time  ;  and  if  today  our  people  censure  them,  it 
is  because  they  believe  they  have  not  been  true  to  their  trust ;  that  they 
have  forgotten  the  common  interests  and  the  common  bond  which 
unite  their  interests  with  the  interests  of  the  people  of  California. 
That  is  the  reason.  If  they  are  censured  it  is  because  they  use  their 
great  power  sometimes  to  thwart  the  wishes  and  desires  of  the  people ; 
but  that  the  name  of  Mr.  Huntington  is  used  to  influence  the  acts  of 
public  men  in  California  is  untrue. 


PREJUDICE  AGAINST  THE  RAILWAY.  15 

The  responsible  men  of  California,  who  are  blessed  with 
brains  and  conscience,  are  not  "against  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific", although  they  are  at  times  compelled  to  oppose  that 
corporation  in  what  it  seeks  to  do.  As  American  citizens, 
they  naturally  resent  the  presence  in  California  politics  of 
this  sinister  force;  they  are,  however,  too  fair-minded  to 
deny  that  the  railroad  is  often  driven  into  the  political  arena 


C.  P.  HUNTINGTON. 

in  self-defense  against  legislative  freebooters.  Such  men  will 
deplore  the  indiscriminate  attacks  that  are  made  on  the  rail- 
road, and  at  the  same  time  will  be  firm  in  protecting  the  peo- 
ple's interests  when  the  corporation  seeks  to  overreach  them. 
If  this  constitutes  "prejudice",  so  be  it;  but  it  is  a  prejudice 
in  favor  of  his  own  honest  rights,  which  the  Californian 
shares  with  all  his  brethren  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race. 

The  present  narration  has  to  deal  with  a  contest  which  was 
waged  through  a  period  of  about  eight  years  in  the  city  of 


i6  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

Los  Angeles  and  in  the  Nation's  capital,  on  the  question  of 
the  location  of  a  harbor  to  accommodate  the  commercial  in- 
terests of  the  Southwest.  The  Southern  Pacific  railroad  de- 
sired the  harbor  to  be  situated  at  Port  Los  Angeles,  which  is 
near  the  town  of  Santa  Monica.  The  engineering  authorities 
of  the  National  Government  had  selected  San  Pedro  as  the 
most  available  spot,  and  that  location  was  favored  by  the 
people  of  Los  Angeles,  or  by  a  majority  of  them  at  least,  be- 
cause its  water  front  was  free  and  accessible  to  any  number 
of  railroads,  or  private  individuals,  that  might  choose  to 
build  wharves  out  into  the  harbor.  Whether  or  not  the  har- 
bor at  Port  Los  Angeles  could  be  successfully  invaded  by 
railroads  competing  with  the  Southern  Pacific,  was  a  moot 
question,  upon  which  most  of  the  discussion  of  the  issue 
turned.  The  reader  shall  presently  be  put  in  possession  of 
the  evidence  and  the  argument  on  both  sides.  Certain  it  is, 
however,  that  the  people  of  Los  Angeles  and  the  surround- 
ing country — those  whose  interest  in  the  question  was  most 
direct  and  profound — believed  that  the  Port  Los  Angeles 
plan  called  for  a  monopoly  harbor,  and  the  fight  was  made 
on  that  basis.  After  a  long  and  determined  struggle,  in  the 
midst  of  which  the  cause  of  the  people  seemed  many  times 
to  have  suffered  hopeless  defeat,  a  victory  was  finally  won 
for  the  San  Pedro  location.  An  appropriation  of  nearly 
$3,000,000  was  secured  and  the  work  was  inaugurated. 

This,  in  a  nutshell,  is  the  incident  which  this  book  will  de- 
scribe in  such  detail  as  may  be  necessary  to  give  the  reader  a 
clear  idea  what  a  fight  between  the  people  on  the  one  side 
and  a  determined  corporation  on  the  other  is  like.  As  we 
have  observed  before,  fights  of  this  description  may  become 
painfully  common  during  the  next  half-century,  and  their 
polemics  will  be  a  legitimate  field  of  study. 

A  contest  of  such  magnitude,  extending  through  a  long 
period  of  years,  and  involving  to  some  degree  every  element 
of  the  community,  could  not  fail  to  impress  a  lasting  mark 
upon  the  character  of  a  youthful  city.  One  may  speak  of 
Los  Angeles  as  youthful,  for,  although  it  was  founded  by 
the  Spaniards  over  a  century  ago,  it  is,  in  every  other  respect 
than  that  of  history,  but  twenty  years  old.  Of  those  who 
now  make  up  its  population  probably  85  per  cent  are  new- 
comers since  1887.  Los  Angeles  may  therefore  be  regarded 


EFFECT  OF  THE  CONTEST.  17 

as  in  the  early  stages  of  a  lusty  youth,  when  character  is  most 
subject  to  influence  by  outward  circumstance.  To  one  who 
has  traveled  among  American  cities,  or  is  acquainted  with 
their  intimate  history,  the  mere  mention  of  their  names  sug- 
gests their  several  peculiarities,  as  clearly  denned  as  those  of 
well  known  men  or  women.  Thus,  Boston  expresses  culture, 
Philadelphia  conservatism  and  regard  for  family,  New  York 
elegance  and  a  certain  aristocratic  complacency,  and  Chicago 
is  synonymous  with  enterprise.  Los  Angeles  is  destined  to 
be  one  of  the  great  cities  of  the  Union.  Its  growth  from 
11,000  in  1880  to  120,000  at  the  present  time  is  a  clear  indi- 
cation of  its  future.  It  will  doubtless  have,  and  to  some  ex- 
tent it  has  already,  those  definite  characteristics  that  will 
give  it  individuality  among  its  sister  cities.  It  is  safe  to  say 
that  the  part  Los  Angeles  has  played,  in  this  long  and  bitter 
struggle  with  a  corporation  which  up  to  this  time  has  been 
practically  invincible,  a  struggle  wherein  the  most  powerful 
influences  were  brought  to  bear,  and  the  strongest  senti- 
ments of  the  people  were  aroused,  must  have  helped  to  de- 
velop in  the  city  those  traits  of  courage  and  perseverance 
that  are  the  groundwork  of  all  human  success.  If  this  be 
true,  then  the  San  Pedro  contest  has  brought  a  double 
victory. 


CHAPTER     II. 
WHY  THE  HARBOR  WAS  NEEDED. 

THE  industrial  history  of  the  United  States  up  to  the  end 
of  this  century  may  be  divided  into  two  epochs: 
First,  the  agricultural  period,  when  the  chief  effort  of  the 
people  was  to  develop  the  resources  of  the  soil,  and  second, 
the  manufacturing  period.  To  them  is  about  to  succeed 
a  commercial  period,  when  the  genius  of  the  American  peo- 
ple will  be  devoted  to  the  problem  of  marketing  our  surplus 
products  in  foreign  countries  and  to  the  securing  of  our 
share  in  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world.  By  the  middle  of 
this  century  the  United  States  was  the  greatest  producer  of 
agricultural  commodities  on  the  globe.  At  the  end  of  the 
century,  it  leads  all  other  countries  in  manufacturing;  and 


i8  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

early  in  the  twentieth  century  it  will — unless  all  signs  fail — 
attain  its  legitimate  supremacy  in  commerce. 

Twenty-five  years  ago  we  were  exporting  each  year  half  a 
billion  dollars  worth  of  our  products  and  importing  goods  to 
about  the  same  value.  Now  we  are  exporting  over  a  billion 
dollars  worth  annually,  while  the  imports  have  increased  but 
little.  What  relation  manufacturing  bears  to  this  prosper- 
ous showing  is  revealed  by  the  presence  of  such  items  as 
these  in  the  list  for  1898:  Agricultural  implements  $7,609,- 
ooo,  Copper  manufactures  $32,180,000,  Bicycles  $6,846,- 
ooo,  Iron  and  steel  products  $70,406,000,  Leather  and 
leather  articles  $21,113,000,  Hog  products  $110,801,000, 
Flour  $69,263,000,  Wooden  manufactures  $37,513,000. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  we  consider  the  part  played  by 
this  country  in  the  world's  carrying  trade,  we  note  that  in 
1860  the  tonnage  of  American  vessels  amounted  to  5,299,- 
175  against  5,710,968  of  Great  Britain  and  4,000,000  of  all 
other  countries.  In  1890  the  figures  were,  United  States 
4,424,497,  Great  Britain  11,597,106  and  other  countries 
7,000,000;  and  at  present  United  States  4,769,020,  Great 
Britain  13,641,116,  Germany  2,006,950  and  all  other  coun- 
tries 7,000,000.  When  it  is  remembered  that  90  per  cent 
of  the  American  tonnage  is  engaged  in  domestic  or  coast- 
wise trade,  it  will  be  seen  that  our  vessels  cut  an  almost  in- 
significant figure  in  the  world's  commerce. 

These  facts,  which  are  not  particularly  gratifying  to  the 
American's  patriotism,  are  quoted  merely  to  show  how  we 
have,  in  our  devotion  to  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the 
country,  overlooked  the  commercial.  While  other  nations 
have  fostered  and  encouraged  by  legislation  and  by  force  of 
a  patriotic  sentiment  the  building  of  ships  and  the  develop- 
ment of  deep-sea  trade,  we  have  turned  all  our  energies  to- 
ward that  which  we  seemed  chiefly  to  need,  to-wit,  manu- 
facturing; and  the  splendidly  profitable  work  of  carrying 
the  world's  commodities  from  one  nation  to  another,  and, 
indeed,  between  our  own  nation  and  others  has  been  allowed 
to  drift  entirely  away  from  us. 

But  it  is  not  alone  the  carrying  trade  that  we  have  neg- 
lected, until  it  is  lost  and  may  be  won  back  only  by  a  hard 
struggle;  we  have  lost,  with  respect  to  many  countries,  the 
very  trade  itself.  To  fail  to  hold  our  place  in  the  rank  of 


TRANS-PACIFIC  OPPORTUNITIES.  19 

transporters  is  one  thing;  to  suffer  good  markets 
to  remain  closed  to  us  through  indifference  and  mis- 
management is  another  and  a  more  serious  one. 
The  man  who  fails  to  earn  the  money  that  is  legit- 
imately his  is  the  loser  thereby,  quite  as  much  as  he 
who  parts  with  the  same  amount  on  some  unlucky  venture. 

This  has  particular  application  to  our  trans-Pacific  com- 
merce. The  oriental  countries  of  China,  Japan,  British 
Australasia,  Corea  and  Siberian  Russia,  the  Philippines  and 
the  French  and  Dutch  East  Indies,  lie  nearer  to  the  United 
States  by  a  thousand  miles  or  more  than  they  do  to  Europe. 
These  countries  contain  over  800,000,000  of  population,  and 
their  area  exceeds  that  of  Europe  arid  the  United  States 
combined.  Their  capacity  for  commerce,  both  as  to  what  they 
produce  for  exportation  and  what  they  need  to  buy  in  return, 
is  almost  unlimited,  although  it  has  been  as  yet  but  partially 
developed.  The  real  awakening  of  Japan  has  occurred  only 
within  the  last  ten  years.  That  country,  with  a  population 
of  41,000,000  and  an  area  of  147,000  square  miles,  receives 
and  sends  out  $280,000,000  worth  of  products  each  year, 
and  of  this  the  United  States  handles  little  less  than  one- 
fourth.  When  the  same  awakening  comes  to  China  with 
its  4,000,000  square  miles  and  400,000,000  of  population, 
and  to  Siberian  Russia,  whose  6,500,000  square  miles  of  ter- 
ritory are  now  being  penetrated  with  a  vast  railway  system 
that  will  bring  its  products  out  to  Pacific  waters  at  Vladivo- 
stock,  what  splendid  opportunities  will  then  be  presented  for 
American  thrift  and  energy  to  create  for  this  nation  a  com- 
mercial empire  in  the  Orient ! 

The  present  commerce  of  the  trans-Pacific  countries  is 
estimated  at  $2,000,000,000  annually.  We  import  from 
those  countries  $150,000,000  each  year  and  export  to  them 
$65,000,000.  The  disparity  in  these  figures  is  all  the  more 
glaring  when  we  compare  them  with  the  totals  of  our  own 
exports  and  imports,  which  show  that  while  twenty-five  per 
cent  of  our  total  imports  come  from  the  Orient,  but  five  per 
cent  of  our  exports  go  to. those  shores.  In  short,  the  money 
that  we  pay  the  Mongolian  for  his  curios  and  mattings,  his 
teas  and  silks,  goes  to  Europe  to  buy  him  woolens  and  canned 
goods  and  machinery.  The  United  States,  which  is  the 
legitimate  and  natural  commercial  ally  of  the  whole  Orient, 


20  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

is  today  receiving  but  seven  per  cent  of  its  business,  the  re- 
maining ninety-three  per  cent  going  largely  to  England, 
France  and  Germany,  on  the  far  opposite  side  of  the  globe. 

Two  events  that  took  place  in  the  year  1898  presaged  the 
end  of  this  anomalous  condition  of  affairs.  These  were  the 
battle  of  Manila  Bay,  May  ist,  and  the  formal  annexation  of 
the  Hawaiian  Islands,  August  I2th.  The  United  States  is 
no  longer  a  stranger  in  the  Orient;  it  is  now  a  free-holder 
there,  and  will  maintain  its  right  to  all  privileges,  commer- 
cial and  otherwise,  that  such  rank  conveys.  Up  to  last  year 
our  exports  to  the  Philippines  averaged  a  little  over 
$100,000  annually,  as  against  nearly  $20,000,000  which  they 
paid  to  Spain  for  its 'products.  In  an  open  market,  practi- 
cally all  of  that  business  would  come  to  us.  With  Manila 
for  a  base  of  operations,  American  business  skill  and  enter- 
prise will  push  its  way  into  every  corner  of  the  Orient,  and 
when  the  inevitable  awakening  comes  to  those  vast  hordes, 
they  will  minister  to  our  needs,  and  we  to  theirs.  The  two 
billions  of  commerce  will  expand  to  three  or  four,  and  the 
gain  will  be  largely  to  America. 

Having  considered  the  opportunity,  let  us  now  inquire 
into  the  facilities  which  we  possess  for  meeting  it.  Unlike 
the  Atlantic,  the  Pacific  ocean  is  provided  by  nature  with  but 
few  ports  that  are  adapted  to  deep-sea  commerce.  The 
Puget  Sound  country  has  two,  in  Seattle  and  Tacoma;  and 
the  Columbia  River  presents  a  third  at  Portland.  The  Bay 
of  San  Francisco  constitutes  an  excellent  natural  harbor; 
but  south  of  that  city  for  six  hundred  miles,  the  coast  is  in- 
hospitable to  the  ocean-going  vessel,  until  San  Diego  is 
reached,  at  the  extreme  southwestern  corner  of  the  Union. 

The  Northern  Pacific  and  the  Great  Northern  railways, 
and  the  Union  Pacific,  through  the  Oregon  Short  Line  and 
Oregon  Railway  and  Navigation  Company's  lines,  carry  the 
Oriental  products  that  come  into  the  three  Northern  ports, 
across  the  Western  States  to  the  Twin  Cities  and  to  Chicago, 
and  the  East.  The  Southern  and  Central  Pacific  (two 
routes  of  the  same  system)  perform  that  service  for  San 
Francisco;  and  the  Santa  Fe  for  San  Diego.  The  recent 
purchase  by  the  Santa  Fe  of  the  Valley  Railroad,  which  was 
an  independent  line  built  chiefly  by  the  subscriptions  of  San 
Francisco  people,  through  the  San  Joaquin  Valley  along  the 


WHERE  ORIENTAL  BUSINESS  IS  DONE.         21 

middle  of  the  State,  puts  that  great  system,  which  has  ex- 
ercised such  an  important  influence  in  the  upbuilding  of  the 
southern  section  of  California,  into  the  city  of  the  Golden 
Gate.  Within  a  few  months — certainly  before  the  end  of 
1899 — San  Francisco  will  enjoy  the  advantage  for  which 
she  has  so  long  clamored,  of  competition  in  railroad  trans- 
portation. It  is  safe  to  predict,  however,  that  under  the 
highly  amicable  arrangement  that  at  present  prevails  be- 
tween the  Southern  Pacific  and  the  Santa  Fe,  no  sudden 
change  will  occur  in  the  commercial  fortunes  of  that  city. 

The  Oriental  business  is  at  the  present  time  done  almost 
entirely  through  the  three  northwestern  ports  and  San  Fran- 
cisco. The  harbor  of  San  Diego,  while  it  is  of  sufficient 
depth  for  trans-Pacific  trade,  has  thus  far  remained  practi- 
cally undeveloped,  although  a  regular  line  of  steamers  from 
that  port  to  Yokohama  has  recently  started  into  operation. 
Overtures  have  at  various  times  been  made  to  the  San  Diego 
people  by  the  proprietors  of  Japanese  lines,  but  satisfactory 
arrangements  could  not  be  effected.  The  difficulties  in  the 
way  were,  first,  that  the  country  immediately  surrounding 
San  Diego  does  not  produce,  in  any  quantity,  the  commod- 
ities which  are  needed  for  the  return  cargo,  and,  second,  its 
railway  facilities,  as  determined  by  location,  grades,  etc., 
do  not  admit  of  its  competition  with  the  other  deep-sea  har- 
bors of  the  coast.  These  are  difficulties  which  will  be  over- 
come in  time,  as  the  country  about  San  Diego  develops, 
and  other  railway  lines  are  secured.  That  it  is  destined  to 
be  one  of  the  great  shipping  points  of  the  Pacific  coast,  no 
one  can  doubt. 

There  are  now  2,000  arrivals  of  ships  annually  at  the  ports 
in  Puget  Sound,  and  1,300  annually  at  Portland,  in  the  Col- 
umbia river.  San  Francisco  bay,  which  has  served  as  the 
western  terminus  of  a  transcontinental  line  since  1865,  and 
which  is  most  favorably  located  of  all  the  ports,  greets  2,200 
ships  annually.  These  figures  do  not,  of  course,  include 
coast  trade,  which  does  not  bear  on  the  present  discussion/ 
The  freight  that  comes  in  is  tea,  rice,  sugar  (from  Hawaii),- 
silks,  curios,  tropical  fruits;  that  which  goes  out  is  flour, 
canned  goods,  hog  products  and  cotton. 

Now,  as  the  Pacific  coast  country,  measuring  it  clear  back 
to  the  Rockies,  contains  only  two  millions  of  people,  scat- 


22  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

tered  over  seven  hundred  thousand  square  miles,  it  is  clear 
enough  that  but  a  small  fraction  of  this  commerce  is  local. 
The  curios  are  sold  in  Chicago  and  the  East;  the  silks  go  on 
to  New  York  and  are  scattered  all  over  the  country;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  hog  products  come  from  Kansas  City 
and  Omaha;  the  flour,  much  of  it,  comes  from  Minnesota, 
and  the  cotton  from  Texas.  The  Pacific  coast  is,  therefore, 
merely  the  gateway  by  which  the  commercial  interests  of 
the  Middle  and  Eastern  States  pass  over  to  the  Orient. 

Commerce,  like  most  other  natural  forces,  will  follow  the 
line  of  least  resistance,  and  there  enter,  as  material  factors 
in  the  railway  end  of  the  calculation,  questions  of  distance, 
grade,  snow,  and,  sometimes,  most  important  of  all,  oppor- 
tunity for  competition.  When  the  cotton  of  Texas,  grown  in 
latitude  30  deg.,  is  carried  north  to  latitude  47  deg. — a  mat- 
ter of  2000  miles  as  the  railroad  runs — subsequently  to  be 
delivered  at  Hong- Kong,  latitude  23  deg.,  it  is  a  paradox 
that  must  some  day  be  abolished.  By  all  the  laws  of  logic 
and  good  business  sense,  cotton  should  seek  its  outlet  to  the 
Pacific  at  the  nearest  practicable  point.  Moreover,  the  heavy 
and  costly  freight  which  comes  to  this  country  from  the 
Orient  should  not  be  sent  across  the  continent  over  steep 
grades  and  through  snow  blockades,  if  level  and  clear  routes 
are  to  be  had. 

The  city  of  Los  Angeles,  which,  being  within  a  few  miles 
of  the  coast,  we  may  regard  as  a  Pacific  terminus,  marks  the 
western  end  of  the  shortest  route  over  the  most  practical 
gradients  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  waters.  It  is 
north  from  San  Diego  over  100  miles,  south  from  San  Fran- 
cisco 500  miles.  In  all  that  distance  of  over  600  miles, 
there  is  no  harbor  where  deep-sea  vessels  may  enter,  either 
to  seek  refuge  from  a  storm  or  deliver  a  cargo.  A  corre- 
sponding distance  on  the  Atlantic  coast  would  be  from  Port- 
land, Maine,  to  Cape  May,  or  from  Dover  to  Charleston. 
Three  railway  routes  lead  out  from  Los  Angeles  across  the 
'continent:  The  Southern  Pacific  and  Central  and  Union 
Pacific  roads  together  constitute  one  line;  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific, and  Texas  and  Missouri  Pacific  another ;  and  the  Santa 
Fe  system,  a  direct  through  line  practically  under  one  own- 
ership into  Chicago,  is  the  third.  The  latter  road  was  built 
in  competition  with  the  other  two,  and  for  a  number  of  years 


24  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

rivalry  was  active,  contributing  in  a  marked  degree  to  the 
progress  of  the  adjacent  country.* 

Thus  the  enterprise  of  the  railway  builder  was  united  with 
the  favoring  influence  of  nature,  to  mark  this  as  the  proper 
location  for  a  harbor  for  the  southwestern  coast  of  the 
Union — not  in  opposition  to  any  other  ports  now  existing 
on  the  Pacific  coast,  but  in  addition  to  and  supplementing 
them.  There  will  be  work  enough  developed  for  all  within 
the  next  ten  years,  and  each  will  serve  its  own  territory. 

Although  the  Pacific  ocean  is  not  as  restless  as  the  At- 
lantic, there  was  ample  justification  for  the  building  of  a 
harbor  at  some  point  near  Los  Angeles  for  the  refuge  of 
storm-beleagured  vessels.  On  this  topic  Senator  Frye  of 
Maine,  who  has  for  many  years  served  as  Chairman  of  the 
Senate  Committee  on  Commerce,  said:  "It  [the  proposed 
harbor  in  the  vicinity  of  Los  Angeles]  is  for  the  commerce 
of  the  world,  and  not  only  is  it  for  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  but  it  is  for  a  harbor  of  refuge,  just  as  important  as 
a  harbor  for  commerce.  The  Atlantic  coast  has  harbors  of 
refuge  all  along.  We  are  building  one  now  at  Sandy  Bay, 
on  the  New  England  coast  at  a  cost  of  $5,000,000,  and  we 
have  them  every  forty  or  fifty  miles :  harbors  to  which 
tempest-tossed  ships  can  run  for  refuge.  They  are  just  as 
important  for  protection  to  life  and  property  as  are  protected 
harbors  for  commerce." 

It  would  seem  that  if  the  Government  could  afford  to 
build  harbors  of  refuge  every  fifty  miles  along  the  Atlantic 
coast,  some  of  'them  at  a  cost  as  great  as  $5,000,000,  there 
was  ample  warrant  for  the  expenditure  of  the  $2,900,000 
which  was  finally  appropriated  for  San  Pedro,  to  construct 
one  harbor  in  a  stretch  of  over  600  miles;  and  of  this  sum 
less  than  half,  it  appears,  is  called  for  by  the  actual  con- 
tracted work. 

However,  it  was  not  for  a  harbor  of  refuge  nor  for  one  of 
naval  necessity  that  Los  Angeles  ten  years  ago  first  presented 
its  claims  for  the  construction  of  a  great  sea-wall  at  San 
Pedro.  It  was  in  order  that  the  work  begun  by  nature  might 

*  To  these  routes  may  be  added  a  third,  projected  to  run  from  Salt  Lake 
City  to  Los  Angeles,  shorter  and  more  direct  than  any  of  the  others 
and  over  easy  grades  through  a  productive  country.  It  is  now  but  a 
question  of  a  short  time  when  this  road  will  be  constructed. 


A  NATIONAL  ISSUE.  25 

be  completed  in  the  making  of  a  port  for  the  commerce  of 
the  Orient,  a  large  portion  of  which  should  by  the  operation 
of  the  inevitable  laws  of  trade  gravitate  to  this  region.  It 
was  that  the  cotton  of  the  South  and  the  hams  and  bacon  of 
Kansas  and  the  fabrics  and  machinery  of  the  East  might 
find  their  way,  by  easy  grades  and  cheap  transportation,  to 
the  Pacific,  where  they  would  join  with  the  wheat  and  flour 
and  fruit  and  canned  goods  of  California,  and  embark  for 
shipment  across  to  the  countries  of  the  Orient;  and  that  in 
return  should  come  the  silks  and  tea  and  rice  and  the  handi- 
work of  the  East  to  be  distributed  over  the  same  route  back 
into  the  center  of  the  nation.  Many  times  in  the  struggle 
was  the  question  to  be  met :  "What  nee'd  has  Los  Angeles 
for  this  harbor?"  to  which  the  answer  was  always  given: 
"It  is  the  United  States  that  needs  it." 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  ANCIENT  PORT  OF  SAN  PEDRO. 

IT  was  in  1542,  thirty-six  years  after  the  death  of  the  dis- 
coverer of  the  Americas,  that  Cabrillo,  a  Spanish  naviga- 
tor, sailing  under  the  flag  of  the  great  Emperor,  Charles  V, 
entered  the  bay  of  San  Pedro;  and  the  Indians  who  inhab- 
ited the  islands  and  the  adjoining  mainland,  in  great  numbers 
and  in  appalling  wretchedness,  gazed,  for  the  first  time,  on 
Caucasian  faces.  It  was,  perhaps,  in  honor  of  the  arrival  of 
these  godlike  beings,  with  their  bird-winged  conveyance, 
that  the  savages  set  fire  to  the  dry  grass  of  the  plains  along 
the  shore;  and  the  great  clouds  of  smoke  which  overhung 
the  land  caused  Cabrillo  to  give  the  place  the  name  of  Bahia 
de  los  Humos — the  Bay  of  Smokes. 

Historically,  therefore,  San  Pedro  is  entitled  to  take  prece- 
dence over  any  port  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  At  the  time  of  its 
discovery,  Henry  VIII  of  England  was  busy  intriguing  for  a 
new  wife,  Germany  was  in  the  midst  of  the  fierce  religious 
wars  that  grew  out  of  the  Reformation,  the  massacre  of  St. 
Bartholomew  had  not  yet  taken  place  in  France,  De  Soto 
was  just  making  his  way  up  into  the  Mississippi,  and  the 
father  of  William  Shakespeare  was  courting  Mary  Arden.  It 


26  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

was  not  until  sixty-seven  years  later  that  Henry  Hudson  as- 
cended the  river  that  bears  his  name,  in  the  search  for  a 
northwest  passage,  and  gave  the  title  of  New  Amsterdam  to 
the  future  site  of  the  great  metropolis;  and  when  the  first 
English  settlement  was  effected  on  American  soil,  San  Pedro 
had  been  on  the  navigator's  map  over  half  a  century.  The 
name  San  Pedro  was  bestowed  in  honor  of  St.  Peter,  Bishop 
of  Alexandria,  on  whose  day,  November  28th,  Viscaino,  who 
succeeded  Cabrillo  in  the  exploration  of  this  coast,  first  en- 
tered the  harbor,  in  1603.  That  is  the  name  which  is  applied 
to  the  exterior  roadstead  or  bay;  the  interior  bay  or  lagoon 
is  officially  known  as  Wilmington.  There  is  a  town  of  San 
Pedro,  which  is  situated  on  and  about  the  bluffs  behind  Point 
Fermin,*  and  there  is  also  a  town  of  Wilmington,  which  is 
two  miles  farther  to  the  north  and  east,  at  the  head  of  the 
lagoon.  Both  of  these  towns,  however,  are  matters  of  the 
last  half  century. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  founding  of  the  chain  of  missions  in 
California  by  the  Franciscan  fathers,  which  occurred  in  the 
period  from  1769  to  1800,  the  harbor  or  roadstead  of  San 
Pedro  was  entered  only  at  rare  intervals  by  craft  of  any 
description.  When  the  mission  of  San  Gabriel  was  estab- 
lished thirty  miles  to  the  north,  and  the  pueblo  of  Los  An- 
geles was  founded,  which  events  took  place  about  1780,  the 
first  real  commerce  of  San  Pedro  began.  Before  twenty 
years  had  passed,  the  mission  was  enjoying  a  high  degree  of 
prosperity,  and  the  pueblo  had  grown  to  be  the  largest  set- 
tlement on  the  Pacific  coast.  Tens  of  thousands  of  cattle 
roamed  through  the  San  Gabriel  and  San  Fernando  Val- 
leys, herded  by  Indians  under  the  guardianship  of  the  Mis- 
sion padres,  and  the  hides  and  tallow  of  these  cattle  formed 
the  staple  export  of  the  country,  in  return  for  which  the 
Yankee  trading  vessels  that  frequented  the  coast  brought 
cloth  and  sugar  and  household  goods  of  every  kind. 


*  There  are  three  recognized  spellings  for  Point  Fermin.  The  Board 
of  1890  calls  it  "Firmen."  The  local  mapmakers  generally  put  it 
4t  Fermin."  The  Walker  Board  spells  it  "  Firmin"  in  the  text  of  the 
report  or  "  Fermin"  on  the  maps.  The  army  authorities  generally  call 
it  "Fermin",  and  so  does  the  Coast  Survey.  Mariner's  Charts  gener- 
ally print  it  "  Firmen."  About  the  only  way  successfully  to  misspell 
it  is  "  Fermen,"  an  achievement  that  is  witnessed  occasionally  in  the 
newspapers. 


RICHARD  H.  DANA'S  VISIT.  27 

In  1835,  when  the  Mission  regime  was  at  its  best,  Richard 
H.  Dana  visited  this  coast,  in  the  capacity  of  a  common 
sailor,  on  board  the  brig  Pilgrim.  He  spent  two  years  cruis- 
ing up  and  down  among  the  harbors  of  California,  and  his 
impressions  are  graphically  set  forth  in  his  "Two  Years  Be- 
fore the  Mast",  which  is  a  true  book  of  the  sea,  and  a  literary 
masterpiece  as  well.  He  gives  an  entertaining  description  of 
the  roadstead  of  San  Pedro  and  of  the  way  in  which  com- 
merce was  carried  on  through  California  ports  at  that  time, 
over  sixty  years  ago : 

"Leaving  Santa  Barbara,  we  coasted  along  down,  the 
country  appearing  level  or  moderately  uneven,  and  for  the 
most  part,  sandy  and  treeless;  until,  doubling  a  high  sandy 
point,  we  let  go  anchor  at  a  distance  of  three  and  a  half 
miles  from  shore.  It  was  like  a  vessel  bound  for  St.  John's, 
Newfoundland,  coming  to  anchor  on  the  Grand  Banks;  for 
the  shore,  being  low,  appeared  to  be  at  a  greater  distance 
than  it  actually  was,  and  we  thought  we  might  as  well  have 
stayed  at  Santa  Barbara,  and  sent  down  our  boat  for  the 
hides. 

"The  land  was  of  a  clayey  quality,  and  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach,  entirely  bare  of  trees  and  even  shrubs;  there 
was  no  sign  of  a  town — not  even  a  house  to  be  seen.  What 
brought  us  into  such  a  place,  we  could  not  conceive. 

"No  sooner  had  we  come  to  anchor,  than  the  slip-rope, 
and  the  other  preparations  for  southeasters,  were  got  ready; 
and  there  was  reason  enough  for  it,  for  we  lay  exposed  to 
every  wind  that  could  blow,  except  the  northerly  winds,  and 
they  came  over  a  flat  country  with  a  rake  of  more  than  a 
league  of  water. 

"The  boat  was  lowered,  and  as  we  drew  in,  we  found  the 
tide  low,  and  the  rocks  and  stones  covered  with  kelp  and 
seaweed,  lying  bare  for  the  distance  of  nearly  half  a  mile. 
Leaving  the  boat,  and  picking  our  way  barefooted  over 
these,  we  came  to  what  is  called  the  landing  place,  at  high- 
water  mark.  The  soil  was,  as  it  appeared  at  first,  loose  and 
clayey,  and  except  the  stalks  of  the  mustard  plant,  there  was 
no  vegetation.  Just  in  front  of  the  landing,  and  imme- 
diately over  it,  was  a  small  hill,  which,  from  its  being  not 
more  than  forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  we  had  not  perceived 
from  our  anchorage. 

"Over  this  hill  we  saw  three  men  coming  down,  dressed 
partly  like  sailors  and  partly  like  Californians.  When  they 
reached  us,  we  found  that  they  were  Englishmen.  They  told 


SOUTHERN  CALIFORNIA 

Compiled  nx>m  latest  records 


the 
J^OS  ANGELES  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE 

Scale  of  Miles 


L'egencT< 


Forest  *R 
State 
Light  Hfeoj 


30  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

us  that  they  had  belonged  to  a  small  Mexican  brig  which  had 
been  driven  ashore  here  in  a  southeaster,  and  now  lived  in  a 
small  house  over  the  hill.  Going  up  this  hill  with  them,  we 
saw,  close  behind  it,  a  small  low  building,  with  one  room, 
containing  a  fireplace,  cooking  apparatus,  etc.,  and  the  rest  of 
it  unfurnished,  and  used  as  a  place  to  store  hides  and  goods. 
This,  they  told  us,  was  built  by  some  traders  in  the  Pueblo 
(a  town  about  thirty  miles  in  the  interior,  to  which  this  was 
the  port)  and  used  by  them  as  a  store-house,  and  also  as  a 
lodging-place  when  they  came  down  to  trade  with  the  ves- 
sels. The  nearest  house,  they  told  us,  was  a  Rancho,  or 
cattle  farm,  about  three  miles  off. 

"I  learned,  to  my  surprise,  that  this  desolate  looking  place 
furnished  more  hides  than  any  port  on  the  coast.  It  was  the 
only  port  for  a  distance  of  eighty  miles,  and  about  thirty 
miles  in  the  interior  was  a  fine  plain  country,  filled  with  herds 
of  cattle,  in  the  center  of  which  was  the  Pueblo  of  Los  An- 
geles— the  largest  town  in  California — and  several  of  the 
largest  missions;  to  all  of  which  San  Pedro  was  the  seaport. 

"The  next  day  we  pulled  the  agent  ashore,  and  he  went 
up  to  visit  the  Pueblo  and  the  neighboring  missions;  and  in 
a  few  days,  as  the  result  of  his  labors,  large  oxcarts,  and 
droves  of  mules,  loaded  with  hides,  were  seen  coming  over 
the  flat  country. 

"We  loaded  our  long-boat  with  goods  of  all  kinds,  light 
and  heavy,  and  pulled  ashore.  After  landing  and  rolling 
them  over  the  stones  on  the  beach,  we  stopped,  waiting  for 
the  carts  to  come  down  the  hill  and  take  them;  but  the  cap- 
tain soon  settled  the  matter  by  ordering  us  to  carry  them 
all  up  to  the  top,  saying  that  was  the  'California  fashion.'  So 
what  the  oxen  would  not  do,  we  were  obliged  to  do.  The 
hill  was  low,  but  steep,  and  the  earth  being  clayey  and  wet 
with  recent  rains,  was  bad  holding  ground  for  our  feet.  The 
heavy  barrels  and  casks  we  rolled  up  with  some  difficulty,  get- 
ting behind  and  putting  our  shoulders  to  them;  now  and 
then  our  feet  slipping,  added  to  the  danger  of  the  casks  roll- 
ing back  upon  us.  But  the  greatest  trouble  was  the  large 
boxes  of  sugar.  These  we  had  to  place  upon  oars,  and  lifting 
them  up,  rest  the  oars  upon  our  shoulders,  and  creep  slowly 
up  the  hill  with  the  gait  of  a  funeral  procession. 

"After  an  hour  or  two  of  hard  work,  we  got  them  all  up, 
and  found  the  carts  standing  full  of  hides,  which  we  had  to 
unload,  and  to  load  the  carts  again  with  our  own  goods ;  the 
lazy  Indians,  who  came  down  with  them,  squatting  on  their 
hams,  looking  on,  doing  nothing,  and  when  we  asked  them 


ANCIENT  COMMERCIAL  METHODS.  31 

to  help  us,  only  shaking  their  heads,  or  drawling  out  'no 
quiero/ 

"Having  loaded  the  carts,  we  started  up  the  Indians,  who 
went  off,  one  on  each  side  of  the  oxen,  with  long  sticks 
sharpened  at  the  end,  to  punch  them  with.  This  is  one  of 
the  means  of  saving  labor  in  California — two  Indians  to  two 
oxen. 

"Now,  the  hides  were  to  -be  got  down;  and  for  this  pur- 
pose we  brought  the  boat  around  to  a  place  where  the  hill 
was  steeper,  and  threw  them  off,  letting  them  slide  over  the 
slope.  Many  of  them  lodged,  and  we  had  to  let  ourselves 
down  and  set  them  going  again,  and  in  this  way  we  became 
covered  with  dust,  and  our  clothes  torn.  After  we  had  the 
hides  all  down,  we  were  obliged  to  take  them  on  our  heads, 
and  walk  over  the  stones,  and  through  the  water,  to  the  boat. 
The  water  and  the  stones  together  would  wear  out  a  pair  of 
shoes  a  day,  and  as  shoes  were  very  scarce  and  very  dear,  we 
were  compelled  to  go  barefooted. 

"At  night  we  went  on  board,  having  had  the  hardest  and 
most  disagreeable  day's  work  that  we  had  yet  experienced. 
For  several  days  we  were  employed  in  this  manner,  until  we 
had  landed  forty  or  fifty  tons  of  goods,  and  brought  on 
board  about  two  thousand  hides,  when  the  trade  began  to 
slacken.  On  Thursday  night  there  was  a  violent  blow  from 
the  northward;  but  as  this  was  off  shore,  we  had  only  to  let 
go  our  other  anchor  and  hold  on." 

In  a  postscript  to  "Two  Years,",  written  a  quarter  of  a 
century  later,  in  1859,  Dana  describes  a  visit  which  he  made 
to  San  Pedro  at  that  time.  "I  could  scarce  recognize  the 
hill  up  which  we  rolled  and  dragged  and  pushed  our  heavy 
loads,"  says  he,  "It  was  no  longer  the  landing  place.  One 
had  been  made  at  the  head  of  the  creek,  and  boats  discharged 
and  took  off  cargoes  from  a  mole  or  wharf,  in  a  quiet  place, 
safe  from  southeasters.  A  tug  ran  to  take  off  passengers 
from  the  steamer  to  the  wharf — for  the  trade  of  Los  Angeles 
is  sufficient  to  support  such  a  vessel.  I  walked  along  the 
shore  to  the  new  landing  place,  where  there  were  two  or 
three  store-houses  and  other  buildings,  fronting  a  small  de- 
pot; and  a  stage  coach,  I  found,  went  daily  between  this 
place  and  the  Pueblo." 

The  "creek"  to  which  Dana  refers  is  the  estuary,  which  is 
now  generally  described  as  the  "inner  harbor."  This  estuary 
had,  at  the  time  of  which  Dana  writes  in  his  postscript,  a 


32  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

channel  about  two  miles  long  and  100  feet  wide  and  from  6 
to  10  feet  deep  at  mean  low  tide,  sufficient  for  the  accom- 
modation of  lighters,  barges,  tugs  and  small  coast  vessels.  At 
the  mouth  of  the  estuary,  and  cutting  it  off  from  the  outei 
bay,  there  was  a  bar  where  the  water  measured  only  18 
inches  at  low  tide.  The  use  of  the  inner  area  was,  therefore 
limited  to  such  boats  as  could  get  over  the  bar  at  high  tide. 
The  tides  in  this  port  vary  between  4^/2  and  7  feet. 

This  estuary  was  formed  by  the  mainland  on  the  west 
side,  and  by  the  long  low  strip  of  sand-dunes  formerly  known 
as  Rattlesnake  Island,  and  now  called  Terminal  Island,  on 
the  east.  Between  the  latter  and  Deadman's  Island  lay  about 
3000  feet  of  flats,  partly  submerged  even  at  low  water.  In 
the  map  which  accompanies  this  narration,  these  flats  do  not 
appear;  for  it  was  along  the  line  where  they  formerly  lay 
that  the  jetty  was  built  by  the  government:  the  work  which 
was  begun  in  the  year  1871.  Extensive  flats  also  surrounded 
the  estuary  to  the  east  and  west  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town  of 
Wilmington.  The  total  area  covered  by  the  sea  at  high  tide 
inside  the  bar  was  about  1500  acres. 

The  roadstead  lying  without  the  bar  w'as  protected  on  the 
west  by  the  headland  of  Point  Fermin  and  on  the 
south  and  southwest,  to  some  extent,  by  the  island  of  Cata- 
lina,  twenty  miles  away.  To  the  east  and  north  lay  the  main- 
land. There  was  no  protection  whatever  from  storms  com- 
ing from  the  southeast;  and  it  is  in  that  quarter  that  the 
storms  of  winter  originate  on  this  portion  of  the  Pacific 
coast.  During  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  however,  the  road- 
stead afforded  good  anchorage  and  fair  protection  to  vessels, 
and  even  prior  to  the  improvement  of  the  estuary,  a  very 
considerable  volume  of  coast  commerce  was  carried  on 
through  the  port  of  San  Pedro.  By  1869  this  business  had 
grown  so  considerable  as  to  justify  the  building  of  a  rail- 
way line  between  San  Pedro  and  Los  Angeles,  which  was 
the  first  piece  of  railroad  constructed  in  Southern  California. 
This  line,  23  miles  in  length,  was  subsequently  acquired  by 
the  Southern  Pacific,  when  that  corporation  entered  this  ter- 
ritory in  1876,  and  is  today  a  branch  of  the  latter  system. 

In  addition  to  the  official  report  made  by  Williamson  as  above  noted, 
an  official  examination  and  report  was  made  by  Gen.  Barton  S.  Alex- 
ander a  year  later,  and  concurrent  resolutions  passed  the  Legislature 
asking  for  an  appropriation  based  on  Alexander's  Report. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
WORK  ON  THE  INTERIOR  HARBOR. 

ESTUARIES,  similar  to  that  of  San  Pedro  or  Wilming- 
ton, are  to  be  found  all  over  the  world;  and  their  im- 
provement into  harbors  of  greater  or  less  efficiency  con- 
forms to  a  well  established  and  thoroughly  understood  law. 
The  rising  and  falling  of  the  tide,  which  occurs  twice  in 
every  twenty-four  hours,  carries  a  great  volume  of  water  in 
and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  estuary,  and  this,  if  properly  con- 
fined, and  directed,  may  be  used  to  scour  out  a  channel  for 
the  entrance  of  ships. 

The  conditions  presented  by  the  estuary  which  we  are 
considering,  were  unusually  favorable.  The  tidal  area,  that 
is  to  say,  the  extent  of  the  land  covered  by  water  at  mean 
high  tide,  was  very  large  in  proportion  to  the  width  of 
the  channel  at  the  mouth,  provided  the  channel  was  confined 
to  its  proper  limits  and  the  leaks — so  to  speak — stopped  up. 
The  tide  water,  which  amounted  on  the  average  to  about 
250,000,000  cubic  feet,  passed  in  and  out  over  the  flats  that 
lay  between  Deadman's  Island  and  Rattlesnake  Island  on  the 
one  side,  and  along  the  mainland  at  Point  Fermin  on  the 
other  side.  The  current  was  slow  and  without  force,  and 
the  sand  at  the  bottom  of  the  channel  and  on  the  bar  was 
disturbed  but  little.  But  if  confined  and  made  to  work  in  a 
narrow  channel,  this  great  volume  of  water  would  exert  a 
dredging  power  of  splendid  proportions,  and  the  sand  once 
thrown  out  beyond  the  bar  into  the  ocean,  it  would  be  picked 
up  by  the  side  currents  and  carried  away  from  the  mouth  of 
the  harbor.  The  problem  presented  at  San  Pedro  was  not 
complicated — as  the  case  has  frequently  been  elsewhere — by 
the  presence  of  a  river  of  fresh  water  flowing  into  the  estuary 
and  carrying  down  a  great  quantity  of  silt  and  sediment  to 
clog  up  the  harbor.  Doubtless  in  some  earlier  geological 
period,  when  rains  fell  in  great  volume  in  California,  instead 
of  sparsely  as  at  present,  the  Wilmington  lagoon  was  the 
outlet  for  a  great  river,  probably  the  San  Gabriel,  and  in  that 
way  the  estuary  first  formed.  At  present  the  San  Gabriel 


THE  FIRST  APPROPRIATION. 


35 


has  its  principal  outlet  about  ten  miles  to  the  southward  of 
San  Pedro;  but  at  the  time  the  harbor  was  constructed  the 
river  discharged  the  main  portion  of  its  waters  into  the 
Wilmington  estuary,  though  it  was  only  after  seasons  of  un- 
usual rainfall,  and  then  only  for  a  period  of  a  few  weeks, 
that  this  discharge  materially  affected  the  regular  volume 
of  the  tidal  prism  that  daily  found  its  way  down  to  the  sea. 
The  first  appropriation  for  the  improvement  of  the  inner 
harbor  passed  March  2,  1871.  The  amount  was  $200,000 


COL.  S.  O.  HOUGHTON. 

on  a  project  that  called  for  a  total  expenditure  of  $530,000, 
and  that  contemplated  a  depth  of  ten  feet  of  water  at  mean 
low  tide. 

Los  Angeles  at  that  time  was  a  city  of  about  8,000  popula- 
tion, not  more  than  twenty  per  cent  of  whom  were  Ameri- 
cans. It  had  no  railway  connection  with  the  East;  and  it 
was  not  until  five  years  later  that  the  Southern  Pacific  came 
over  the  Tehachapi  Pass  into  the  Southern  valleys.  The 
surrounding  country  was  but  little  improved,  the  land  being 


36  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

used  chiefly  for  grazing.  The  status  of  Southern  California 
is  very  plainly  shown  in  the  name,  which  was  then  generally 
applied  to  it,  of  the  "cow  counties."  All  the  southern  and 
central  sections  of  the  State  were  included  in  one  congres- 
sional district,  whose  representative  at  that  time  was  Col. 
S.  O.  Houghton,  of  San  Jose.  Col.  Houghton  is  now  a  resi- 
dent of  Los  Angeles  and  a  prominent  member  of  the  bar 
of  that  city.  Through  him  the  first  appropriation  for  San 
Pedro  was  secured.* 

Agitation  in  favor  of  the  improvement  of  the  Wilmington 
lagoon,  to  accomplish  such  a  deepening  of  the  main  channel 
as  would  admit  coasting  vessels  of  light  draft,  had  been 
under  way  for  some  time.  The  prospect  of  securing  connec- 
tion by  railway  with  the  Eastern  states  was  then  considered 
very  distant.  Only  one  transcontinental  line,  the  Union  and 
Central  Pacific,  existed,  as  against  the  seven  that  now  cross 
the  country.  That  one  had  been  constructed  under  such  tre- 
mendous difficulties,  and  was  operated  at  such  expense,  as  to 
render  a  second  project,  especially  one  over  the  lower  and 
desolate  southern  route,  extremely  dubious.  The  necessity 
for  a  water  connection  between  Los  Angeles  and  the  outer 
world  was  therefore  most  urgent;  the  development  of  the 
section  seemed  to  depend  absolutely  upon  it. 

The  number  of  far-sighted  enterprising  men  in  Los  An- 
geles at  that  time  must  have  been  very  small,  however,  for 
the  project  to  improve  San  Pedro  excited  but  languid  inter- 
est, and  was  openly  opposed  in  some  quarters.  Col.  G.  H. 
Mendell,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  work  from  the  beginning, 
is  authority  for  the  statement  that  many  of  the  old  settlers 
regarded  the  undertaking  with  contempt,  and  "figured"  that 
the  government  must  have  a  great  deal  of  money  to  waste,  if 
it  could  spend  so  many  thousands  of  dollars  on  a  useless 
mud  hole  like  the  Wilmington  lagoon. 

The  first  authoritative  report  on  the  possibilities  of  the 
inner  harbor  was  made  in  1869,  by  Major  R.  S.  Williamson, 
of  the  U.  S.  Corps  of  Engineers,  who,  in  response  to  an 


*  Col.  Houghton  was  one  of  the  earliest  advocates,  if  not  the  earliest, 
of  deep-water  development  in  the  outside  harbor,  and  in  the  last  year 
of  his  term  procured  the  passage  of  a  recommendation  to  the  U.  S. 
Engineering  Department  that  a  survey  be  made  of  the  roadstead  as  to 
its  possibilities. 


THE  WORK  BEGINS.  37 

urgent  petition  from  Pheneas  Banning,  Don  Benito  Wilson 
and  others,  made  a  careful  examination  and  survey  of  the 
estuary  and  submitted  plans  and  a  project  for  its  improve- 
ment the  following  year.  Representative  Houghton, 
who  had  visited  San  Pedro  the  previous  year,  and  had  at 
that  time  proposed  to  the  active  citizens  of  Los  Angeles  the 
possibility  of  securing  government  aid  for  the  undertaking, 


COL.  GEORGE  H.  MENDELL. 
Corps  of  Engineers  U.  S.  A.  (Retired.) 

went  before  the  River  and  Harbor  committee  in  the  ses- 
sion of  1870-1,  and  obtained  an  appropriation  of  $200,000 
to  begin  the  work. 

The  first  project  which  called,  as  has  been  said,  for  a  total 
expenditure  of  $430,000,  contemplated  the  removal  of  the 
shoal  at  the  entrance  of  the  channel  and  the  straightening 
and  deepening  of  the  latter.  This  was  to  be  accomplished 
by  the  extension  of  Rattlesnake  Island  to  Deadman's  Island 
by  filling  the  intervening  distance,  6700  feet,  with  rock  and 
timbers,  in  which,  it  was  expected,  the  sand  would  lodge, 
making  a  solid,  impenetrable  wall.  By  this  process  the  great 
volume  of  tide  water  that  had  heretofore  escaped  over  the 


38  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

flats  would  be  restrained  in  the  channel,  and,  flowing  cut  in 
a  swift  current,  would  scour  away  the  bottom  to  the  desired 
depth.  Some  dredging  and  blasting  of  the  channel  was  also 
contemplated  as  part  of  the  work. 

Some  difficulties  were  encountered,  but  the  results  realized 
were  all  and  even  more  than  had  been  predicted.  June  i, 
1872,  Congress  made  a  second  appropriation,  this  time  of 
$75,000  and  again  about  a  year  later  of  $150,000,  thus  mak- 
ing a  total  of  $425,000,  which  was  about  all  that  had  been 
asked.  Col.  Mendell  then  proceeded  to  devise  a  new  project 
for  the  further  continuance  of  the  work.  This  called  for  the 
building  up  of  the  east  jetty  to  a  higher  level  and  its  exten- 
sion beyond  Deadman's  Island  for  about  400  feet,  and  for 
the  building  up  and  further  construction  of  the  jetty  on  the 
west  side  of  the  channel  to  a  length  of  ..bout  3500  feet, 
which  would  cut  off  the  flats  on  that  side,  and  quicken  the 
tidal  current  as  it  passed  over  the  bar. 

The  appropriations  under  this  second  project  came  slowly 
and  the  work  dragged,  with  a  great  sacrifice  of  economy  and 
a  postponement  of  the  desired  results.  The  amounts  and 
dates  were  as  follows:  1875,  $30,000,  1878,  $20,000,  1879, 
$12,000,  1880,  $35,000,  1881,  $33,000,  1882,  $100,000, 
1884,  $50,000,  1886,  $75,000,  1888,  $90,000,  1890,  $34,000, 
1892,  $50,000.  Had  the  latter  portion  of  the  work  been 
pushed  with  the  same  activity  as  the  former,  the  government 
would  have  been  the  gainer  in  many  thousands  of  dollars, 
and  the  people  of  this  section  would  have  enjoyed  the  use 
of  the  inner  harbor  at  a  much  earlier  date. 

The  results  finally  attained  through  these  expenditures  ex- 
ceeded the  best. that  had  been  expected.  The  various  boards 
of  expert  engineering  authorities,  which  have  considered  the 
case  of  San  Pedro  on  numerous  occasions  since  this  work 
came  to  an  end,  have  all,  without  exception,  commented  with 
surprise  on  the  admirable  results  attained  through  Col.  Men- 
dell's  project. 

An  excellent  description  of  the  inner  harbor  work,  and  the 
changed  conditions  at  the  port  on  its  completion,  is  to  be 
found  in  an  address  delivered  in  1891  before  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  Los  Angeles,  by  Captain  James  J.  Meyler,  the 
supervising  engineer.  From  that  the  following  is  quoted  : 


AN  AVAILABLE  HARBOR. 


39 


"The  channel  has  deepened,  widened  and  straightened. 
Where  we  had  depths  from  6  to  10  feet  in  1871,  we  have  now 
from  1 6  to  22  feet,  and  the  depth  of  18  inches  on  the  bar 
has  increased  to  at  least  14  feet.  There  are  at  present  lying 
along  side  the  wharves  in  the  inner  harbor  two  four-masted 
schooners  and  a  barkentine,  which  had  draughts,  when 
crossing  the  inner  bar,  of  17  feet  8  inches,  18  feet  6  inches, 
and  1 8  feet  3  inches,  respectively.  Up  to  the  present  time 
about  133,000  tons  of  stone  have  been  placed  in  the  break- 
waters, and  there  have  been  excavated  only  about  177,000 
cubic  yards  of  material,  about  58,000  cubic  yards  of  which 
was  stone  from  a  ledge  of  rock  crossing  the  channel  at  the 


CAPT.  JAMES  J.  MEYLER, 
Corps  of  Engineers  U.  S.  A. 


inner  bar.  From  a  rough  calculation,  however,  I  estimate 
that  at  least  2,000,000  cubic  yards  of  material  have  been  re- 
moved from  the  channel,  over  nine-tenths  of  which  has 
been  done  independently  of  dredging  or  blasting,  the  result 
of  construction  alone — the  channel  scouring  itself  under  the 
action  of  natural  causes.  The  improvements  have  rendered  it 
possible  for  the  usual  trading  vessels  of  the  coast  to  enter 
at  this  point  a  safe  inclosed  anchorage,  free  of  all  exposure 
to  storms,  and  to  deliver  freight  without  the  use  of  lighters. 


40  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

The  total  number  of  tons  of  exports  and  imports  has  in- 
creased tenfold  since  1871;  the  collections  of  the  port  of 
Wilmington  since  1882  have  almost  paid  for  the  government 
construction  and  work  in  the  harbor,  and  the  present  rates 
of  50  cents  per  1,000  feet  of  lumber  and  75  cents  per  ton  of 
merchandise  were  $7.50  and  $5.00  respectively  in  1871." 

In  the  years  1886,  1887,  1888  there  occurred  in  Southern 
California  a  sudden  growth  in  population,  which  led  to  a 
number  of  interesting  industrial  changes,  the  whole  phe- 
nomenon receiving,  by  general  consent,  the  name  of  "The 
Boom."  So  important  was  the  part  played  in  the  history  of 
Los  Angeles  by  this  event,  that  the  people  have  adopted  it  as 
a  sort  of  a  chrcnological  datum  plane;  and  everything  is 
dated  before  or  after  "the  Boom,"  just  as  in  Chicago  it  is 
before  and  after  "the  Fire,"  or,  in  the  South,  "the  War." 
When  a  sleepy  village  of  15,000  people  is  transformed  in  the 
brief  space  of  about  20  months  into  a  progressive  city  of 
over  50,000,  and  a  sparsely  settled  district  that  contains  but 
70,000  people  suddenly  acquires  over  200,000  population, 
extraordinary  changes  in  real  estate  values,  in  commerce, 
and  in  the  industries  and  habits  of  the  people  naturally 
ensue. 

There  is  an  impression  in  some  quarters,  particularly 
among  persons  who  have  paid  a  hasty  visit  to  the  coast,  that 
this  sudden  inflation  of  yalues  and  rapid  multiplying  of  in- 
terests in  Southern  California  worked  a  lasting  injury  to  the 
section.  That  is  an  error.  On  the  contrary  the  real  birth  of 
the  country  into  commercial  and  social  importance  dates 
from  the  epoch  of  "the  boom."  There  were  before  that  time, 
as  we  have  already  noted,  progressive  and  active  men  in 
Southern  California,  and  they  made  their  influence  felt  to 
some  extent;  but  they  were  too  few  in  number  to  dominate 
the  tone  and  sentiment  of  the  community.  The  industries  of 
the  section  were  limited  and  feeble,  the  improvements  insig- 
nificant, and  the  outlook  not  promising.  But  with  the  com- 
pletion of  a  second  transcontinental  competing  line  into  Los 
Angeles  and  San  Diego,  a  vast  tide  of  new  immigration 
swept  into  Southern  California  from  the  thrifty  middle 
Western  States,  and  the  whole  aspect  of  the  country 
changed. 

It  was  in  that  period  of  sudden  expansion  when  the  people 


THE  DEEP-WATER  HARBOR  IDEA.  41 

began  to  understand  the  splendid  possibilities  of  a  region 
where  an  almost  perfect  climate  combines  with  a  fertile  soil 
within  the  limits  of  a  free  and  enlightened  nation — a  combi- 
nation to  be  found  nowhere  else  in  the  world — that  the  idea 
of  a  deep-sea  harbor  of  the  first  rank  and  magnitude  came  to 
be  a  practical  issue  in  Los  Angeles.  Before  that  time  it  had 
been  suggested,  but  only  as  a  vague  and  distant  futurity, 
like  the  building  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  or  the  redemption 
of  the  Mojave  Desert.  Col.  Mendell  says  that  he  remembers 
discussing  the  subject  in  1881  with  Senator  Stanford,  who 
was  the  president  of  the  Central  and  Southern  Pacific  rail- 
roads. The  interview  as  related  by  Col.  Mendell,  in  ar 
article  in  the  Los  Angeles  Times,  contains  much  that  is 
significant  in  its  bearing  on  the  present  commercial  situation, 
and  it  is  entertaining,  moreover,  on  account  of  the  change  in 
the  attitude  of  the  Southern  Pacific  after  Mr.  IJuntington 
succeeded  Senator  Stanford  in  its  management.  The  article 
reads  alffoikrws-: — 

The  Southern  Pacific  railroad  had  then  been  recently 
finished,  and  its  president  expected  that  by  reason  of  its  light 
grades  it  must  become  the  route  of  an  immense  commerce 
to  be  developed  on  the  Asiatic  shore.  He  [Gov.  Stanford] 
expressed  his  intention  to  build  steamers  of  capacity  to  carry 
15,000  to  20,000  tons  each.  He  stated  that  the  commerce 
with  China  was  in  its  infancy,  and,  considering  its  enormous 
population,  he  expected  exchanges  to  take  dimensions  not 
then  anticipated  by  any  one.  There  were  obvious  and 
serious  objections  to  San  Francisco  as  the  port  for  com- 
merce to  be  handled  over  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad,  in 
that  freight  would  have  to  be  transported  over  nearly  five 
hundred  miles  of  railroad  and  pass  three  summits  in  order  to 
reach  Los  Angeles.  It  was  plain  that  these  ships  must 
receive  and  discharge  their  cargoes  upon  the  adjacent  coast, 
and  his  first  inquiry  was  whether  or  not  Wilmington  harbor 
could  be  made  to  accommodate  vessels  of  the  proposed  mag- 
nitude. The  reply  was  that  it  was  quite  impracticable  to 
make  the  estuary  suitable  for  so  large  vessels.  His  next  in- 
quiry was  as  to  an  alternative  harbor.  San  Diego  had  no 
railroad  connection  and  could  not  be  considered,  fle  was 
informed  that  it  would  be  quite  practicable  to  build  a 
breakwater  in  the  bay  of  San  Pedro,  under  the  lee  of  which 
vessels  of  any  size  might  lie  in  security  in  touch  with  the 
railroad  and  there  receive  and  discharge  cargoes.  At  a  later 


42  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

<date  he  was  given  a  map,  which,  in  a  general  way,  illus- 
Urated  the  project  of  an  outer  harbor. 

That  the  idea  of  asking  the  government  to  undertake  the 
construction  of  a  deep-sea  harbor  for  trans-Pacific  commerce 
was  not  general  until  the  lessons  of  "the  boom"  were  learned, 
appears  from  a  memorial  to  Congress  isued  by  the  Los  An- 
geles Board  of  Trade  in  February  of  1888,  in  which  a  modest 
request  is  put  forth  in  behalf  of  an  appropriation  of  $2OO,oot 
to  complete  the  work  on  the  interior  harbor,  with  no  men- 
tion of  the  deep-sea  improvement.  In  this  document  there 
is  reproduced,  however,  a  letter  from  W.  H.  H.  Benyaurd, 
Major  (now  Lieut. -Colonel)  of  Engineers  U.  S.  Army, 
under  date  of  Nov.  29,  1887,  in  which  he  states  that  a  sur- 
vey has  just  been  completed  "looking  to  the  formation  of 
an  outer  harbor  at  San  Pedro  Bay,  for  the  protection  of 
deep-draft  vessels." 

Although  the  work  on  the  interior  harbor  was  not  com- 
pleted at  the  time  of  "the  boom",  the  effect  on  the  shipping  at 
that  port  may  be  seen  from  the  figures  of  the  duties  col- 
lected before  and  during  these  eventful  years  : 

YEAR  DUTIES  TONNAGE 

1883  $  38,911.87 $7988.70 

1884 52,029.95 3290.48 

1885 39,428.69 2100.27 

1886 63,960.46 3922.47 

1887 105,627.62 4598.49 

1888 159,111.23 6235.56 

In  1887,  889  vessels  entered  the  port,  of  which  69  were 
from  foreign  countries,  the  remainder  coasting  craft.  In 
1888  the  number  ran  to  1092,  of  which  105  were  foreign. 
These  were  the  palmy  days  of  San  Pedro,  the  time  when  its 
people  thought,  "full  surely  its  greatness  was  a-ripening." 
In  a  year  or  two  more,  the  two  roadsteads  to  the  north,  Re- 
dondo  and  Santa  Monica,  were  to  be  developed,  and  the 
coast  business  to  be  wrested  away,  and — bitterest  of  all — the 
railroad,  which  thus  far  had  proved  San  Pedro's  most  pow- 
erful ally,  was  destined  to  transfer  its  allegiance  to  another 
quarter,  and  the  ancient  embarcadero  was  to  pass  for  nearly 
a  decade  through  a  period  of  extreme  tribulation.  But  the 
thought  had  been  uttered  that  there  should  some  day  be  a 


A  NEW  ALLY  FOR  THE  HARBOR.  43 

deep-sea  harbor  near  Los  Angeles  for  the  trans-Pacific  com- 
merce of  that  city,  the  southwest,  and  all  the  Union.  The 
seed  was  planted  that  was  destined  to  grow  and  to  bear  splen- 
did fruit. 


CHAPTER  V. 

• 

ENTER  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE. 

IN  the  fall  of  1888  an  organization  was  formed  in  the  city 
of  Los  Angeles  which  was  to  play  an  important  part  in 
the  harbor  contest — indeed  it  must  be  admitted  that  without 
this  organization  the  victory  could  never  have  been  won. 

Most  western  cities  have  societies  for  local  improvement 
which  usually  bear  the  name  Board  of  Trade  or  Chamber  of 
Commerce.  Los  Angeles  had  possessed  various  organiza- 
tions of  this  character,  which  had  sprung  up  from  time  to 
time,  flourished  for  a  short  period,  and  then  passed  away.  In 
the  later  8o's  the  Board  of  Trade,  which  had  given  some  at- 
tention to  public  questions,  decided  to  devote  its  strength  to 
the  special  business  interests  of  its  members,  and  this  left  the 
city  with  no  agency  to  look  out  for  the  general  good. 

On  the  suggestion  of  W.  E.  Hughes,  Major  E.  W.  Jones 
and  S.  B.  Lewis  a  public  meeting  was  held  on  October  n, 
1888,  when  a  plan  was  formulated  for  a  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, an  organization  with  a  membership  that  should  in- 
clude not  business  men  alone,  but  property  owners  and  pro- 
fessional men  as  well — in  short  every  one  who  was  inter- 
ested in  the  prosperity  of  Los  Angeles  and  Southern  Cali- 
fornia. 

About  150  members  were  enrolled,  each  of  whom  paid  an 
initiation  fee  of  $5.00,  and  thereafter  dues  of  $1.00  a 
month.  On  this  small  financial  basis  an  institution  began 
which  has  brought  many  millions  of  dollars  into  the  country, 
and  which  has  itself  spent  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
in  advertising  the  section  and  assisting  in  its  development. 
When  the  Chamber  had  been  in  existence  four  years  it  had 
a  membership  of  over  500,  from  which  it  derived  an  income 
sufficient  to  maintain  it  in  satisfactory  style,  while  the 
money  that  was  needed  for  active  work  was  secured  by  sub- 
scription. 


WORK  OF  THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE.      45 

In  its  third  year  the  Chamber  established  the  free  exhibit 
of  Southern  California  products,  which  comes  very  near 
to  being  the  finest  and  largest  display  of  that  character  to  be 
found  anywhere  in  the  world.  The  only  two  that  exper- 
ienced travelers  mention  to  compare  with  it  are  the  Bourse 
Exhibit  of  Philadelphia  and  the  Colonial  Products  display 
in  London. 

The  present  membership  of  the  Chamber  is  over  1,000, 
and  includes  practically  all  the  active  business  men,  public- 
spirited  property  owners,  and  successful  professional  men  in 
the  city.  It  has  also  a  considerable  membership  of  notable 
men  all  over  Southern  California,  and  the  various  counties 
of  the  section  participate  in  the  display  of  products.  The 
latter,  which  occupies  the  second  and  third  stories  of  a  build- 
ing 1 20  feet  square,  is  visited  by  nearly  100,000  people  an- 
nually, hailing  from  every  country  on  the  globe. 

In  the  eleven  years  that  have  elapsed  since  it  came  into 
existence,  the  Chamber  has  had  entire  charge  of  nearly  all 
the  notable  public  enterprises  inaugurated  in  Los  Angeles. 
It  has  sent  exhibits  in  great  quantities  to  fairs,  and  special 
displays  all  over  the  world,  and  its  printed  matter  has  gone 
forth  by  the  carload.  Los  Angeles  is  certainly  one  of  the  best 
advertised  cities  in  the  Union,  and  it  owes  the  splendid  re- 
sults that  have  followed,  in  the  form  of  a  desirable  immigra- 
tion and  the  influx  of  new  capital,  to  the  wisdom  and  energy 
of  its  leading  commercial  organization.  At  the  time  of  the 
active  harbor  agitation,  the  Merchants  and  Manufacturers' 
Association,  which  has  since  achieved  distinction  for  good 
public  work,  did  not  exist;  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  stood 
alone,  and  represented  as  nothing  else  could,  the  active,  pro- 
gressive sentiment  of  the  country.  Great  care  had  been 
used  by  the  intelligent  and  conscientious  men  who  made  up 
its  directorate — men  who  were  for  the  most  part  re-elected 
year  after  year — to  preserve  the  institution  from  any  scandal 
of  self-seeking  or  of  personal  ambition.  As  a  consequence,  it 
exercised  an  ascendency  over  public  opinion,  which,  in  a 
crisis,  such  as  the  city  was  about  to  meet,  would  prove  of  in- 
estimable value. 

It  is  necessary  to  speak  thus  in  detail  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  in  order  that  the  reader  who  is  perhaps  not  a 
resident  of  Southern  California,  or  who  is  a  newcomer  to 


46  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

this  section,  may  appreciate  its  power  and  influence — so 
much  beyond  that  which  the  mere  name  might  suggest. 

The  first  object  of  this  organization,  as  set  forth  in  its  by- 
laws, is  to  foster  the  commerce  of  Los  Angeles  and  South- 
ern California;  and,  as  a  deep-water  harbor  was  a  primary 
necessity  to  the  attainment  of  any  foreign  trade,  to  work  for 
San  Pedro — and  up  to  1892  no  other  location  than  San 
Pedro  was  seriously  considered — became  a  fundamental 
article  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  creed.  It  was  gener- 
ally admitted,  even  by  the  most  ardent  harbor  enthusiasts, 
that  there  was  little  hope  of  early  results  from  that  work.  In 
the  first  place,  the  interior  harbor  was  still  unfinished,  and 
the  government  was  not  likely  to  consider  a  new  project, 
until  it  had  completed  the  one  in  hand.  Appropriations 
were  coming  slowly,  and  in  such  small  amounts  that  the  im- 
provements barely  held  their  own  against  the  influences  of 
nature.  The  amount  which  it  was  estimated  would  be  re- 
quired for  the  construction  of  the  outer  harbor  was  very 
large,  and  it  must  of  necessity  be  considered  by  Congress  all 
at  once,  under  the  continuing  contract  plan,  as  the  work 
could  not  be  done  successfully  in  piece-meal  appropriations. 
The  totals  of  the  river  and  harbor  bills  were  increasing  by 
giant  strides  each  year,  and  a  general  outcry  against  such 
extravagance  was  heard  all  over  the  Union. 

There  had  been  up  to  this  time  no  definite  project  devised 
by  the  engineering  authorities  of  the  government,  but  a  semi- 
official suggestion  had  been  offered  that  the  construction  of 
a  sea  wall,  a  breakwater  of  stone,  running  out  from  a  point 
a  little  to  the  north  of  Point  Fermin,  about  two  miles  in 
length,  would  probably  accomplish  what  was  desired.  It 
was  roughly  estimated  that  this  would  cost  between  four 
and  five  millions  of  dollars.  The  vagueness  of  the  whole 
calculation  shows  in  the  fact  that  when  the  work  was  actu- 
ally let  by  contract,  ten  years  later,  the  price  agreed  upon 
was  $1,300,000.  The  cost  of  such  work,  however,  has  con- 
siderably diminished  during  that  period. 

In  spite  of  this  discouraging  outlook  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce went  bravely  to  work  to  obtain,  first  of  all,  the  appro- 
priations that  were  needed  to  complete  the  inner  harbor,  and 
second,  to  secure  a  small  appropriation  for  the  preparing  of  a 
project  on  the  deep-water  plan. . 


THE  COMING  OF  FRYE.  47 

A  favorite  method  employed  by  the  Chamber  to  push  the 
harbor's  interests  was  to  seize  upon  any  senator,  or  member 
of  the  House,  or  upon  any  person  of  influence  who  might 
be  visiting  the  coast  and  convey  him  to  San  Pedro  on  a 
special  train,  accompanied  by  a  number  of  enthusiastic  har- 
bor advocates,  who  made  clear  to  him  by  ocular  demon- 
stration, backed  up  by  statistics  and  an  abundance  of  argu- 
ment, the  entire  feasibility  of  the  deep-water  idea.  It  hap- 
pened that  during  '88-'89  and  '90  a  number  of  congressional 
committees  visited  the  coast.  Senator  Leland  Stanford, 
who  at  that  time  was  president  of  the  Southern  Pacific,  al- 
ways accompanied  these  parties,  and  was  a  hearty  advocate 
of  the  claims  of  Sari  Pedro.  The  section's  representative  in 
Congress,  Gen.  Vandever  of  Ventura,  also  assisted  in  the  en- 
tertainment of  these  guests. 

A  notable  incident  took  place,  just  at  that  time,  which  had 
no  little  bearing  on  the  subsequent  contest,  in  the  visit  paid 
by  Senator  Frye  of  Maine  to  Los  Angeles  and  San  Pedro. 
The  Committee  on  Commerce  of  the  Senate  was  making  a 
tour  of  the  country,  to  inspect  the  various  harbor  projects  on 
which  it  was  called  to  vote,  and  in  October  of  1889  came  to 
the  Pacific  coast.  The  Maine  Senator  was  chairman  of  the 
committee,  and  although  not  all  its  members  were  present, 
those  who  accompanied  him  to  San  Pedro  were  Dawes  of 
Massachusetts,  Platt  of  Connecticut,  Davis  of  Minnesota, 
Morgan  of  Alabama,  and  Turpie  of  Indiana.  There  was  a 
special  train,  containing  about  thirty  members  of  the  Cham- 
ber and  a  few  representative  people  from  San  Diego. 

In  the  contest  between  the  people  and  the  Southern  Pacific 
railway  over  the  location  of  the  harbor,  Senator  Frye  of 
Maine  was,  from  beginning  to  end,  an  unwavering  and  de- 
termined opponent  of  San  Pedro.  His  position  as  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Commerce  made  it  possible  for  him 
to  destroy,  year  after  year,  all  chance  of  appropriation 
for  that  harbor,  and  he  openly  and  without  hesitation  made 
use  of  that  opportunity.  Whenever  the  matter  came  up  in 
the  committee,  he  invariably  took  an  active  part  in  the  dis- 
cussion, denouncing  the  San  Pedro  location,  even  in  the  face 
of  the  engineers'  repeated  decisions,  using  all  the  arts  of  per- 
suasion and  cajolery  (and  those  arts,  with  the  chairman  of 
the  committee  that  passes  on  appropriations  for  every  State 


48  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

in  the  Union,  are  most  powerful),  and  even  falling  back  on 
the  infallible  "Senatorial  courtesy"  when  every  other  method 
failed  for  gaining  delay.  Alone  and  almost  unaided,  for  a 
number  of  years,  he  succeeded  in  defeating  every  effort  to 
get  the  question  actually  considered  by  Congress;  and  when 
at  last,  chiefly  through  the  efforts  of  Senator  White  of  Los 
Angeles,  the  issue  was  forced  out  of  the  committee  into  the 
open  Senate,  it  was  Mr.  Frye  of  Maine  who  led  the  fight  in 
behalf  of  the  railroad's  choice  for  a  location,  conferring  fre- 
quently in  the  lobby  and  committee  rooms  of  the  Senate  with 
Mr.  Huntington  and  his  body-guard  of  workers.  There 
were,  it  may  be  admitted,  a  number  of  supporters  of  the 
Santa  Monica  site  who  approached  the  question  in  a  judicial 
spirit,  and  who  believed  with  all  sincerity  that  the  Govern- 
ment engineers  were  in  error ;  but  Mr.  Frye,  as  his  every  ut- 
terance on  the  harbor  issue  showed  plainly  enough,  was  a 
partisan  of  the  most  persistent  and  uncompromising  type. 

There  has  been  much  speculation  among  the  people  of 
Southern  California,  who  were  interested  in  the  fate  of  the 
harbor,  as  to  the  reason  for  Mr.  Frye's  extraordinary  atti- 
tude. Men  who  occupy  positions  of  public  trust  sometimes 
favor  rich  corporations  with  their  votes,  because  they  sin- 
cerely believe  in  the  justice  of  the  cause;  but  the  public  serv- 
ant that  becomes  their  open  and  avowed  advocate,  and  de- 
votes his  energies  to  their  interests  with  the  active  zeal  of  a 
faithful  attorney,  must  expect  to  encounter  some  aspersions 
on  the  propriety  of  his  motives. 

In  Mr.  Frye's  behalf  it  is  to  be  said  that  no  man  in  high 
public  life  has  borne  a  more  untarnished  reputation  for  prob- 
ity than  he.  His  period  of  service  in  Congress  extends 
through  nearly  thirty  years.  With  almost  no  elements  of 
personal  popularity,  with  a  brusque,  ill-natured  manner  that 
repels  even  his  friends  and  admirers,  it  would  be  seemingly 
impossible  for  him  to  maintain  his  hold  on  the  Republicans 
of  Maine,  were  not  unusual  ability  joined  with  high  prin- 
ciple to  make  him  a  leader.  His  position  in  Maine  may  be 
compared  to  that  of  Hoar  in  Massachusetts,  Cullom  in  Illi- 
nois, Allison  in  Iowa,  or  Hawley  in  Connecticut.  Upright 
men  are  sometimes  capable  of  very  downright  prejudices, 
and  it  is  not  necessary  to  attribute  corrupt  motives  to  Mr. 
Frye,  as  many  Californians  are  disposed  to  do,  to  account 


SENATOR  FRYE'S  ATTITUDE.  49 

for  his  determined  advocacy  of  the  railroad's  interest.  Once 
convinced,  on  the  argument  of  the  Southern  Pacific  engin- 
eers, that  the  Santa  Monica  site  was  the  preferable  one,  Mr. 
Frye  thenceforth  would  have  regarded  himself  as  a  dema- 
gogue if  he  had  listened  for  one  moment  to  the  demands  of 
the  people  of  Los  Angeles  that  their  harbor  should  be  open 
to  competition.  We  can  readily  understand  his  mental  atti- 
tude, for  it  is  one  that  is  frequently  assumed  by  Eastern  peo- 


SENATOR  WM.  B.  FRYE  of  Maine. 


pie  who  know  California  but  distantly.  All  opposition  to  the 
railway,  no  matter  what  the  merits  of  the  particular  case  may 
be,  is  classed  as  agrarianism — any  defense  of  the  people's 
rights  was  demagogy,  to  Senator  Frye.  The  demand  for  a 
"free  harbor  at  San  Pedro"  reeked  of  Denis  Kearney  and  the 
Sand  Lots!  And  this  one  piece  of  prejudice  working  its 


50  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

way  into  a  mind  that  was  prompted  both  by  experience  and 
environment  to  accept  it,  operated  as  the  elder  Hamlet  de- 
scribes the  poison : 

"  Swift  as  quicksilver  it  courses  through 
The  natural  gates  and  alleys  of  the  body, 
And  with  a  sudden  vigor  it  doth  posset 
And  curd,  like  eager  droppings  into  milk, 
The  thin  and  wholesome  blood." 

As  to  the  first  inception  of  this  prejudice  against  Los  An- 
geles and  its  harbor  of  San  Pedro,  it  is  not  impossible  that 
the  incidents  connected  with  his  first  visit  to  those  localities 
may  have  a  bearing  upon  it. 

The  party,  which  we  have  described,  left  the  cars  at  the 
end  of  the  Southern  Pacific  line,  which  then  ran  out  to  a 
spot  beyond  Timm's  Point,  where  the  company  was  engaged 
in  building  a  new  wharf  of  considerable  length. 

Dr.  J.  P.  Widney,  who  was  chairman  of  the  committee  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  that  had  charge  of  the  harbor 
work,  and  who  had  made  a  special  study  of  the  subject,  un- 
rolled a  chart  showing  the  proposed  improvement,  and 
started  in  to  explain  the  plan,  but  Mr.  Frye  interrupted. 

"Why,  where  are  all  the  ships?"  he  said.  "I  was  given 
to  understand  that  there  was  something  of  a  harbor  here, 
and  that  a  great  deal  of  traffic  was  carried  on,  though  under 
unfavorable  conditions." 

Major  E.  W.  Jones,  the  president  of  the  Chamber,  replied 
that  the  best  answer  to  the  Senator's  question  would  be 
found  in  the  statistics  of  the  port,  which  showed  that  it  was 
entered  by  over  IQOO  vessels  the  preceding  year,  in  spite  of 
the  neglect  which  it  had  suffered  from  the  government,  and 
the  present  unfavorable  conditions  for  commerce. 

Senator  Frye  then  inspected  the  map.  "Rattlesnake 
Island,"  he  read  aloud.  "Deadman's  Island.  I  should 
think  it  would  scare  a  mariner  to  death  to  come  into  such  a 
place." 

"If  that  is  all  the  difficulty,"  said  Senator  Stanford,  evi- 
dently a  little  annoyed  at  the  tone  that  Frye  had  adopted 
toward  the  party,  "you  let  us  have  a  large  enough  appropria- 
tion, and  we  will  change  the  names  to  something  less  hor- 
rifying." 


SOME  JOCULAR  REMARKS.  51 

"Well,  as  near  as  I  can  make  out,"  continued  Mr.  Frye, 
looking-  up  from  the  map,  "you  propose  to  ask  the  govern- 
ment to  create  a  harbor  for  you,  almost  out  of  whole  cloth. 
The  Lord  has  not  given  you  much  to  start  with,  that  is  cer- 
tain. It  will  cost  four  or  five  millions  to  build,  you  say;  well, 
is  your  whole  country  worth  that  much?" 

At  this  most  unexpected  utterance  the  Los  Angeles  dele- 
gation gazed  at  one  another  in  astonishment  and  disgust, 
and  they  were  relieved  and  gratified  when  Senator  Stanford 
came  to  their  aid,  with  a  few  words  of  description  of  the 
country,  its  existing  resources  and  its  splendid  possibilities 


MAJOR  E.  w.  JONES. 

under  development.  He  also  spoke  of  the  opportunity  which 
the  favorable  grades  at  this  locality  presented  for  trans-Pa- 
cific commerce. 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Frye,  obstinately,  in  conclusion,  "it 
seems  that  you  have  made  a  big  mistake  in  the  location  of 
your  city.  You  should  have  put  it  at  some  point  where  a  har- 
bor already  exists,  instead  of  calling  upon  the  United  States 
Government  to  give  you  what  nature  has  refused." 

"If  we  were  to  carrv  out  that  idea,"  said  Senator  Stan- 


52  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

ford,  "we  should  have  no  cities  on  this  coast  for  a  space  of 
600  miles." 

The  party  then  returned  to  the  city.  The  next  day,  when 
the  Senator's  remarks  were  published  both  in  Los  Angeles 
and  San  Diego,  and  considerable  indignation  was  expressed 
among  the  citizens  of  the  former  city,  he  gave  an  interview 
to  an  evening  paper,  in  which  he  said  that  his  observations 
were  intended  to  be  of  a  jocular  order,  and  should  not  be 
taken  too  seriously.* 

Now,  if  Mr.  Frye  had  remained  an  opponent  of  any  appro- 
priation for  a  harbor  near  Los  Angeles,  on  the  ground  that 
it  was  not  needed,  he  would  have  at  least  shown  the  virtue 
of  consistency.  A  few  years  later,  however,  the  extra- 
ordinary fact  developed  that  while  the  Maine  Senator  could 
see  no  reason  for  spending  any  of  the  government  money  at 
San  Pedro,  he  was  warmly  in  favor  of  making  an  improve- 
ment at  Santa  Monica,  in  accordance  with  Mr.  Huntington's 
ideas,  which  would  cost  about  three  millions  of  dollars. 

It  is  perhaps  needless  to  say,  in  concluding  this  chapter, 
that  Mr.  Frye  does  not  enjoy  a  high  degree  of  popularity 
in  Southern  California.  Doubtless  that  is  a  matter  of  small 
moment  to  Mr.  Frye;  it  is  merely  recorded  here  as  a  per- 
tinent and  perhaps  an  interesting  piece  of  history. 

*  Senator  Frye's  own  account  of  this  incident  given  in  his  speech  be- 
fore the  Senate  May  llth,  1896,  on  the  San  Pedro-Santa  Monica  contro- 
versy is  as  follows  : 

Whether  I  am  a  "navigator"  or  not,  I  made  my  mind  very  deliber- 
ately then  that  a  safe  harbor  at  San  Pedro  was  an  impossibility,  on 
account  of  the  southeast  winds.  I  so  told  Senator  Stanford.  He  argued 
the  question  with  me,  and  by  that  time  there  were  a  hundred  or  two 
hundred  people  around  listening,  and  I  finally,  in  jest,  said  to  the 
Senator,  "  Senator,  if  those  Los  Angeles  people  want  a  harbor,  suppose 
they  move  their  city  down  to  San  Diego  There  is  a  good  harbor  there. ' ' 
You  ought  to  have  read  the  Los  Angeles  papers  the  next  day.  I  never 
got  such  a  lecture  in  my  life  as  I  got  from  those  newspapers,  and  some 
of  them  have  kept  it  up  ever  since. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  GOVERNMENT  CONSIDERS  THE  OUTER  HARBOR. 

IT  was  in  the  spring  of  1890  that  the  first  tangible  result 
of  the  agitation  in  favor  of  the  deep-water  harbor  was 
achieved.  Through  the  efforts  of  Senator  Stanford  and 
Representative  Vandever,  an  item  was  inserted  in  the  River 
and  Harbor  appropriation  bill,  which  passed  in  the  summer 
of  1890,  allowing  the  sum  of  $5000  to  pay  the  expense  of 
preparing  a  project  for  a  deep-water  harbor,  somewhere  in 
the  vicinity  of  Los  Angeles.  The  location  was  not  described, 
except  that  it  should  be  "between  Points  Dume  and  Capis- 
trano."  A  Board  of  Engineers  of  the  War  Department  was 
appointed,  consisting  of  Col.  G.  H.  Mendell,  Lieut.-Col.  G.  L. 
Gillespie  and  Lieut.-Col.  W.  H.  H.  Benyaurd..  Col.  Mendell 
was  the  author  of  the  two  projects  for  the  improvement  of 
the  inner  harbor,  which  were  then  under  way,  and  during  a 
great  part  of  that  work,  Lieut.-Col.  W.  H.  H.  Benyaurd 
was  in  charge.  Both  were  therefore  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  conditions  that  prevailed  on  the  coast,  and  com- 
petent to  render  a  decision  as  to  the  merits  of  the  various 
localities. 

It  was  subsequently  urged  by  the  advocates  of  the  Santa 
Monica  site  against  these  gentlemen,  that  they  were,  in  a 
way,  already  committed  to  the  San  Pedro  site,  having  se- 
lected it  twenty  years  before,  as  the  proper  place  for  gov- 
ernment work,  and  that  it  would  have  been  better,  and 
more  conducive  to  an  impartial  judgment,  had  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  selected  engineers  from  some  distant  section 
of  the  Union.  On  the  other  hand,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  question  they  were  now  called  upon  to  consider  was 
that  of  an  outer  harbor,  and  that  they  might  with  entire  con- 
sistency have  awarded  that  to  some  other  spot  than  San 
Pedro — for  the  outer  and  inner  harbor  bore  no  direct  re- 
lationship to  one  another,  except  that  it  would  naturally  be 
advantageous  to  have  them  both  in  the  same  vicinity, 
other  things  being  equal. 

The  bill  authorizing  the  appointment  of  this  Board  was 


54  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

passed  September  19,  1890,  and  the  report  was  prepared 
during  the  following  summer.  The  Board  held  public 
meetings  in  Santa  Monica,  San  Pedro  and  Los  Angeles, 
although  there  was  no  great  amount  of  publicity  given  to 
the  matter  at  the  time.  As  every  one  supposed  the  location 
selected  would  be  San  Pedro,  there  was  not  much  discussion 
and  no  excitement. 

The  report  was  submitted  to  Congress  December  igth, 
1891.  The  text  of  the  law  under  which  the  Board  was  ap- 
pointed is  as  follows : 

That  the  Secretary  of  War  is  authorized  and  directed  to 
appoint  a  board  of  three  engineer  officers  of  the  United 
States  army,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  examine  the  Pacific 
Coast  between  Points  Dume  and  Capistrano,  with  a  view 
to  determining  the  best  location  for  a  deep-water  harbor. 
The  said  board  shall  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War  a  project 
for  a  deep-water  harbor,  with  the  estimated  cost  of  the  same, 
who  shall  lay  said  report  before  Congress  at  the  next  session, 
together  with  the  views  of  the  commission  and  of  the  Chief 
of  Engineers  of  the  United  States  army  thereon;  and  the 
sum  of  five  thousand  dollars,  or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be 
necessary,  is  hereby  appropriated  for  the  purpose. 

The  report,  after  giving  a  brief  description  of  the  topog- 
raphy of  the  region,  disposes  in  a  few  words  of  all  other 
harbor  possibilities  than  San  Pedro  and  Santa  Monica, 
which  latter  are  considered  at  some  length.  The  follow- 
ing interesting  and  correct  account  is  given  of  the  winds 
of  this  coast : 

The  prevailing  wind  on  the  California  coast  is  from  the 
northwest,  nearly  parallel  to  the  coast  line  north  of  Point 
Concepcion,  which  is  in  latitude  34deg.,27  min.  At  this  point 
the  trend  of  the  coast  changes  from  northwest  to  west.  This 
fact,  in  connection  with  the  bold  topography  of  the  shore, 
causes  the  prevailing  winds  along  the  southerly  coast  of  Cal- 
ifornia to  be  westerly.  This  wind  never  becomes  more  than 
a  moderate  gale.  It  never  produces  the  heaviest  waves. 
The  disturbance  of  the  water  due  to  it  is,  however,  always 
an  inconvenience  to  vessels  lying  at  a  wharf  exposed  to  its 
action,  and  when  the  disturbance  is  greatest  there  is  danger 
to  vessels.  This  wind  prevails  on  the  southern  coast  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  year,  with  intermission  of  calms  in  the 
autumn  and  winter.  In  the  last  named  season  occur  the 


THE  BOARD  OF  1890.  55 

southerly  offshore  winds,  which  produce  the  heaviest  waves 
to  which  the  coast  line  is  exposed. 

A  northeasterly  land  wind,  known  as  the  "Santa  Ana/' 
occasionally  blows  from  the  dry,  hot  plains  lying  to  the  east- 
ward. Its  duration  is  short,  and  it  is  severe,  but  having  no 
fetch  over  the  sea  it  raises  no  waves  near  the  shore. 

The  southeaster  comes  in  the  winter  and  spring,  and 
brings  rain.  The  storm  first  manifests  itself  by  a  wind  from 
the  southeast,  which  continues  for  a  few  hours,  shifting 
then  to  the  south  and  southwest.  The  storm  clears  up  when 
the  wind  gets  to  the  northwest.  In  these  storms  a  heavy 
sea  is  developed,  which  breaks  upon  the  coast  line  in  waves 
of  great  magnitude.  These  waves  come  from  the  south  and 
southwest.  The  waves  produced  by  the  southeast  wind  are 
short,  designated  by  the  sailors  as  "choppy."  The  south  and 
southwest  seas,  on  the  other  hand,  are  long  and  heavy.  A 
vessel  at  anchor  under  this  exposure  must,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, get  to  sea  with  the  possibility  of  otherwise  going 
ashore.  It  is  the  heave  of  the  sea  rather  than  the  wind, 
although  the  latter  alone  is  sufficiently  dangerous,  that 
makes  the  strongest  ground  tackle,  at  times,  of  no  avail. 

Although  southerly  winds  prevail  during  the  winter  sea- 
sons, and  bring  rain,  yet  their  occurrence  in  violent  form 
is  not  frequent,  and  a  season  has  been  known  to  pass  without 
a  severe  storm.  Nor  is  the  duration  of  a  storm  rarely  ex- 
tended over  two  or  three  days. 

In  this  respect  the  conditions  of  the  southern  coast  of  Cal- 
ifornia are  much  less  severe  than  in  higher  latitudes.  This 
consideration  is  of  great  importance,  for  the  reason  that 
owing  to  it  a  lighter  profile  may  be  adopted  for  a  break- 
water than  would  be  admissible  much  further  north. 

The  structure  proposed  and  considered  for  Santa  Monica 
was  to  be  placed  directly  in  front  of  the  city,  instead  of  at 
Port  Los  Angeles,  the  location  afterwards  advocated  by  the 
railroad  company.  A  breakwater  thus  situated,  8250  feet  in 
length,  would  cover  an  anchqrage  ground,  so  the  report 
states,  between  Point  Dume  and  Rocky  Point.  The  west- 
erly 2000  feet  would  be  in  water  of  jy2  to  9  fathoms,  the  re- 
mainder of  the  structure  being  8  and  9  fathoms.  It  was  es- 
timated that  this  would  cost,  if  built  of  rubble  and  concrete, 
$5>7I5>965>  or  of  rubble  only,  $4,843,440. 

The  plan  considered  for  San  Pedro  was  somewhat  dif- 


56  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

ferent  from  the  one  finally  adopted,  eight  years  later.     The 
report  reads : 

In  San  Pedro  Bay  the  best  location  for  the  proposed  har- 
bor is  at  the  present  anchorage  ground  on  the  west  side  of  the 
bay  under  Point  Fermin.  The  projection  of  the  westerly 
shore,  by  which  protection  is  afforded  from  westerly  winds, 
and  from  which  a  breakwater  could  start,  affords  advantages 
over  any  other  section  of  the  bay  to  the  eastward  for  secur- 
ing a  protected  anchorage. 

Good  holding  ground  exists  at  the  anchorage.  Protec- 
tion from  storms  over  the  open  arcs  of  exposure  to  the  south- 
west and  southeast  could  be  secured  by  the  construction  of 
a  breakwater  having  two  arms.  Catalina  affords  protection 
from  southwest  seas  as  before  stated,  over  an  angle  of  forty- 
eight  degrees.  The  westerly  arm  could  be  started  from  a 
point  on  the  shore  under  Point  Fermin,  and  be  extended  in  a 
direction  south  41  degrees  east  (magnetic),  for  a  distance 
of  about  2,400  feet,  which  would  carry  it  beyond  a  line  pro- 
jected from  the  middle  of  the  present  anchorage  ground  to 
the  westerly  end  of  Catalina  Island.  The  end  of  this  arm 
is  in  six  fathoms  depth.  Then  leaving  a  gap  of  1,500  feet, 
the  easterly  arm  could  be  given  a  direction  north  56^  de- 
grees east,  along  the  gl/2  fathom  curve,  and  be  extended 
about  5,600  feet,  which  would  afford  protection  from  the 
southeast  seas.  This  arm  could  be  extended  easterly  as 
increased  commerce  would  require  more  interior  space. 

The  estimated  cost  of  this  structure,  if  built  of  rubble  and 
concrete,  was  $4,594,494;  if  built  entirely  of  concrete,  the 
cost  was  figured  at  $4,126,106. 

The  report  then  goes  into  a  comparison  of  the  two  loca- 
tions, showing  the  superiority  of  San  Pedro  on  every  point, 
Its  final  summing  up  of  the  case  reads  as  follows : 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  San  Pedro  Bay  in  its  natural  con- 
dition affords  better  protection  both  from  prevailing  winds 
and  from  dangerous  storms  than  Santa  Monica  Bay; 

That  protection  can  be  secured  at  less  cost  for  equal  de- 
velopment of  breakwater  at  the  former  than  at  the  latter; 

That  a  larger  area  of  protected  anchorage  from  the  pre- 
vailing westerly  swells  can  be  secured,  the  severe  storms 
from  the  southwest  being  infrequent; 

And  that  there  is  already  an  interior  harbor  that  will  be 
a  valuable  addition  to  the  outer  harbor; 


A  MEMORIAL  TO  CONGRESS.  57 

,      The  Board  considers  San  Pedro  Bay  as  the  better  location 
I  for  the  deep-water  harbor  provided  for  by  the  act. 

When  this  document  was  made  public,  its  immediate  ef- 
fect was  to  quiet  whatever  doubt  may  have  existed  as  to  the 
exact  spot  where  the  deep-water  harbor  was  to  be  con- 
structed, and  to  give  the  advocates  of  that  improvement 
fresh  strength  and  courage.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce  pre- 
pared a  new  memorial,  asking  that  the  work  to  be  undertaken 
forthwith,  and  sent  a  copy  to  every  member  of  Congress. 
This  memorial  bears  the  names  of  H.  Z.  Osborne,  who  was 
then  serving  as  Collector  of  the  Port,  Henry  T.  Hazard, 
Mayor  of  Los  Angeles,  W.  H.  Workman,  ex-mayor  and 


HENRY  T.  HAZARD. 

an  old-time  harbor  advocate,  Hervey  Lindley,  who  ran  for 
Congress  the  next  year  on  the  Republican  ticket  and  was 
defeated,  and  James  Cuzner,  of  the  lumber  firm  of  Kerck- 
hoff  &  Cuzner.  Of  these  H.  Z.  Osborne  and  Hervey  Lind- 
ley afterward  became  active  Santa  Monica  advocates. 

In  order  to  assist  Mr.  Bowers,  who  served  as  Representa- 
tive, 1891-93,  in  securing  an  appropriation,  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  sent  on  a  special  delegate  in  the  person  of  Gen- 


58  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

eral  Lionel  A.  Sheldon,  a  former  Member  of  Congress  from 
Louisiana.*  But  the  conditions  were  unfavorable,  and 
nothing  could  be  accomplished. 

In  the  meantime  an  important  change  had  taken  place  in 
the  personnel  of  the  management  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
railroad.  Senator  Leland  Stanford,  who  had  acted  as  pres- 
ident of  the  Central  Pacific  since  its  beginning,  and  whor 
when  that  road  was  merged  into  the  Southern  Pacific,  be- 
came the  president  of  the  whole  system,  was  suddenly  and 
unexpectedly  deposed,  and  Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington  took  his 
place.  The  dramatic  character  of  the  proceedings  at  the 
annual  meeting,  where  the  change  occurred,  produced  a 
great  sensation  all  over  the  State. 

For  many  years  elections  of  officers  and  directors  in  the 
Southern  Pacific  Company  had  been  of  a  perfunctory  and 
commonplace  character,  and  there  was  beforehand  no  out- 
ward indication  that  the  meeting  of  April  gth,  1890,  would 
differ  in  any  wise  from  those  that  had  immediately  preceded 
it.  But  when  the  vote  of  the  stockholders  was  taken,  it  de- 
veloped that  the  Hopkins  interest,  which  had  formerly  been 
in  alliance  with  the  Crocker  and  Stanford  interests,  had 
changed  over  to  Huntington,  and  that  the  latter  was  now 
completely  in  control. 

There  had  been  for  some  time  rumors  of  strained  rela- 
tions between  Stanford  and  Huntington,  due  partly  to  a  dis- 
agreement with  regard  to  the  management  of  the  road,  and 
partly  to  certain  complications  of  a  social  character  that 
had  arisen  in  the  two  families.  The  public  was,  however, 
considerably  astonished  when  C.  P.  Huntington,  immedi- 
ately upon  his  election  to  the  presidency  of  the  road,  read  to 
the  stockholders  a  typewritten  address,  which  he  afterwards 
handed  to  the  reporters,  in  which  he  deliberately  insulted 
and  denounced  Mr.  Stanford.  Incidents  of  that  character 
sometimes  occur  behind  closed  doors  of  corporation  offices, 
over  the  long  green  table  in  the  directors'  room,  but  it  is  a 
little  unusual  to  have  them  develop  in  the  broad  daylight  of 
newspaper  publicity. 


*  By  a  curious  coincidence  it  was  General  Sheldon  who,  as  a  member 
of  the  House  Committee  dealing  with  River  and  Harbor  appropriations 
nearly  twenty  years  before,  had  assisted  Colonel  Houghton  in  getting 
the  first  appropriation  for  San  Pedro. 


MR.  HUNTINGTON'S  MANIFESTO.  59 

"At  all  times,"  said  Mr.  Huntington,  reading  aloud  from 
his  address,  "my  personal  interest  has  been  second  to  that 
of  the  company;  and  in  no  case  will  I  use  this  great  corpor- 
ation to  advance  my  personal  ambition  at  the  expense  of  the 
owners,  or  put  my  hands  into  its  treasury  to  defeat  the 
people's  choice,  and  thereby  put  myself  in  positions  that 
should  be  filled  by  others;  but  to  the  best  of  my  ability  will 
I  work  for  the  interest  of  the  stockholders  of  this  company 
and  the  people  whom  it  should  serve." 

No  other  construction  could  be  put  upon  this  utterance 


ICELAND  STANFORD. 

than  that  it  pointed  directly  at  Mr.  Stanford,  who,  while 
president  of  the  company,  was  twice  honored  by  election 
to  the  Senatorship.  The  phrase  "put  myself  in  positions 
that  should  be  filled  by  others"  was  supposed  to  refer  to  ex- 
Senator  Sargent,  who  was  dropped  to  make  room  for  Stan- 
ford. If  there  was  need,  however,  that  any  one  should  be 
"edified  by  the  margent"  as  to  Mr.  Huntington's  meaning, 
his  own  subsequent  interviews  in  the  San  Francisco  dailies, 
which  were  full  of  bitterness  against  Mr.  Stanford,  made  it 
perfectly  clear. 


60  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

The  new  president  then  proceeded  to  deliver  some  very 
proper  sentiments  on  the  duty  of  corporations  and  their  em- 
ployees, which  read  somewhat  strangely  now  at  the  end  of 
nine  years  of  the  administration  of  Mr.  Huntington. 

"The  best  results  cannot  be  brought  about  unless  every 
officer  of  the  company  gives  his  best  attention  to  the  care 
of  the  company's  interests,  which  can  be  best  done  without 
interfering  in  political  affairs.  The  people  are  everywhere 
jealous  of  great  corporations.  Let  us  conduct  this  com- 
pany so  that  all  good  people  will  be  with  us.  If  this  is  not 
done,  your  president  will  certainly  be  on  the  side  of  the 
people.  Corporations  should  not  be  used  to  advance  the 
interests  of  this  party  or  that,  or  to  raise  up  any  one  man  or 
to  pull  down  another;  and  this  corporation  will  not  be  so 
used  henceforth,  if  its  president  can  prevent  it." 

This  portion  of  the  address  was  received  with  a  good 
deal  of  derision  by  the  people  of  California,  for  it  was  Mr. 
Huntington  himself  that  had  always  managed  the1  company's 
political  work  in  Washington  and  at  Sacramento,  and  there 
was  extant  a  very  interesting  bundle  of  letters,  written  by 
him  to  one  of  his  fellow  directors  of  the  company,  General 
Colton,  in  which  he  had  described  in  detail  his  dubious  meth- 
ods in  the  lobby,  with  the  utmost  sang  froid. 

However,  the  matter  of  Mr.  Huntington's  sincerity  or  his 
fitness  for  the  utterance  of  such  sentiments  is  not  part  of  the 
present  discussion.  The  point  to  be  noted,  as  bearing  on 
the  San  Pedro  issue,  is  that  the  new  head  of  the  road  came 
to  his  work  imbued  with  the  idea  that  his  predecessor  had 
mismanaged  the  property.  It  was  announced  on  all  sides 
that  there  was  to  be  a  "new  deal,"  a  "general  shaking  up"  and 
certain  radical  changes  of  policy,  and  there  certainly  was 
warrant  for  this  assumption  in  the  way  Mr.  Huntington  ex- 
pressed himself,  as  he  went  about  inspecting  the  road.  He 
visited  San  Pedro  and  Santa.  Monica,  and  announced  that 
the  company  would  soon  make  some  important  improve- 
ments in  the  latter  locality. 

Presently  the  work  which  was  in  progress  at  San  Pedro 
on  the  wharf  near  Timm's  Point  came  to  a  halt.  No  public 
statement  of  any  kind  was  made  on  the  subject  until,  five 
years  later,  when  the  harbor  discussion  was  at  its  liveliest, 
Mr.  Wm.  Hood,  the  .head  of  the  engineering  department  of 


THE  LONG  WHARF.  61 

the  road,  declared  that  the  great  difficulty  which  was  ex- 
perienced in  driving  the  piles  of  the  wharf  on  account  of  the 
rocky  bottom,  had  caused  the  abandonment  of  the  undertak- 
ing. 

Within  a  few  months  after  Mr.  Huntington  became 
president  of  the  Southern  Pacific,  work  began  on  the  con- 
struction of  the  line  from  Santa  Monica  to  Port  Los  An- 
g-  les,  and  a  year  later  that  line  was  in  operation  and  work 
on  the  long  wharf  was  well  under  way.  In  1893  tne  wharf 
was  completed,  and  the  Southern  Pacific  was  committed 
to  the  change  of  policy  from  a  harbor  at  San  Pedro  to  one  at 
Santa  Monica.  As  the  reasons  for  this  change  lie  within 
the  cc  ntroversial  limits,  they  should  be  given  in  detail,  both 
from  the  railroad's  point  of  view  and  from  that  of  its  oppo- 
nents ;  and  a  new  chapter  must  be  opened  for  their  benefit. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  SOUTHERN  PACIFIC'S  CHANGE  OF  BASE. 

THE  first  formal  announcement  of  the  decision  of  the  rail- 
road company  to  abandon  San  Pedro  and  take  up  Santa 
Monica  was  made  in  February,  1892,  in  a  telegram  from 
Wm.  Hood,  the  chief  engineer  of  the  Southern  Pacific,  to 
Senator  Frye,  which  was  presented  to  the  Senate  Committee 
on  Commerce.  In  this  telegram  Mr.  Hood  warned  the 
committee,  which  was  at  that  time  considering  the  advis- 
ability of  making  an  appropriation  for  San  Pedro,  in 
accordance  with  the  project  of  the  Mendell  Board,  that 
the  holding  ground  at  San  Pedro  was  rocky  and  not 
usable,  and  that  the  railroad  company  had  encountered 
such  difficulty  in  driving  piles  for  the  construction  of  a 
wharf  in  the  outer  harbor  area  that  it  had  been  compelled 
to  give  up  the  work,  and  was  now  putting  in  a  pier  at  Santa 
Monica  instead. 

It  is  probable  that  the  decision  to  go  to  Santa  Monica  was 
reached  by  Mr.  Huntington  some  time  in  1891. 

Santa  Monica  is  a  town  of  about  3000  population  situ- 
ated on  the  coast  directly  west  of  Los  Angeles,  and  pos- 
sessing superior  advantages  as  a  beach  resort.  It  has  been 


F 


THE  SANTA   MONICA  RAILWAY.  63 

for  half  a  century  or  more  the  favorite  summer  watering 
place  for  the  people  of  Los  Angeles  and  the  interior  towns, 
and  although  at  present  it  has  active  rivals  in  Long  Beach, 
Catalina,  Terminal  Island  and  Redondo,  it  still  gathers  by 
far  the  greater  number  of  summer  visitors. 

In  1875  Senator  John  P.  Jones  of  Nevada  and  several  Los 
Angeles  capitalists,  of  whom  J.  S.  Slauson  was  the  chief, 
undertook  to  make  Santa  Monica  a  commercial  port. 
They  constructed  a  railroad  from  that  place  to  the  city,  and 
put  out  a  wharf  1,800  feet  in  length  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  such  traffic  as  could  be  secured,  more  particularly 
for  the  use  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Company.  The 
charges  exacted  by  the  Southern  Pacific  on  its  line  from 
San  Pedro  to  Los  Angeles  were  regarded  by  the  people  of 
Southern  California  as  outrageously  exorbitant — $2.50  for 
carrying  a  passenger,  and  freight  at  five  to  ten  times  its 
present  figure.  The  Santa  Monica  railroad  and  wharf  were 
therefore  hailed  as  a  deliverance  from  a  monopoly,  and  for 
a  short  period  there  was  active  competition.  At  the  end  of 
a  year  and  a  half,  however,  the  Los  Angeles  investors  found 
that  they  were  not  receiving  the  support  from  the  people  to 
which  they  considered  they  had  a  just  title,  and  when  the 
opportunity  occurred  to  part  with  the  property  to  advantage 
they  embraced  it,  and  the  road  and  wharf  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Southern  Pacific.  The  general  community  was 
permanently  benefited  to  a  considerable  degree,  as  the  old 
rates  were  not  restored,  even  though  competition  had 
ceased. 

Mr.  J.  S.  Slauson  was,  through  the  whole  of  the  subse- 
quent harbor  controversy,  an  ardent  advocate  of  Santa  Mon- 
ica, basing  his  predeliction  for  that  port  on  his  ancient  ex- 
perience. He  is  now  (1899)  president  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  Los  Angeles. 

For  a  few  years  the  Southern  Pacific  made  use  of  the 
wharf  at  Santa  Monica,  but  in  the  later  '705  they  abandoned 
it,  and  tore  down  the  outer  end  of  the  structure,  declaring 
that  it  was  unsafe  even  for  foot  passengers.  Their  reasons 
for  leaving  Santa  Monica  at  this  time,  as  set  forth  by  Mr. 
Hood,  in  his  testimony  before  the  Craighill  Board- 
fifteen  years  later — were  that  vessels  moored  to  the  wharf, 
even  in  comparatively  good  weather,  suffered  so  from  the 


64  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

swell  that  the  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Company,  its  prin- 
cipal user,  at  last  refused  to  guarantee  to  come  to  a  landing 
there.  This  evidence  was  given,  it  must  be  noted,  after  the 
railway  company  had  changed  back  again  to  Santa  Monica 
though  to  a  somewhat  different  location — and  hence, 
doubtless,  puts  the  case  rather  mildly. 

In  those  days,  as  at  present,  a  very  large  percentage — 
nearly  all,  in  fact — of  the  freight  and  passenger  business 
for  Los  Angeles  came  from  the  north,  and  it  probably  oc- 
curred to  the  builders  of  the  original  Santa  Monica  line  that 
their  port,  being  twenty-five  miles  nearer  San  Francisco  than 
is  San  Pedro,  and  also  three  or  four  miles  nearer  Los 
Angeles,  would  naturally  take  away  from  the  ancient  em- 
barcadero  all  the  freight  and  passenger  business  that  could 
be  conveniently  handled  through  Santa  Monica.  It  was  in 
pursuance  of  this  same  theory  that  in  the  year  1889,  the 
Redondo  Railway  Company,  an  organization  of  capitalists 
from  Oregon,  whose  leaders,  Captains  Ainsworth  and 
Thompson,  had  enjoyed  large  experience  in  coast  transport- 
ation, "constructed  a  wharf  at  Redondo  and  a  narrow 
gauge  railway  to  Los  Angeles  from  that  point.  Redondo  is 
on  the  southern  corner  of  Santa  Monica  Bay,  just  about 
midway  between  Santa  Monica  and  San  Pedro.  Owing  to 
the  existence  of  a  submarine  canyon  directly  in  front  of  the 
town,  it  was  possible  to  reach  deep  water  with  a  short 
wharf,  and  the  topography  of  the  shore  was  such  as  to  give 
a  safe  anchorage  for  deep-sea  vessels,  except  on  the  rare  oc- 
casions when  great  storms  prevailed.  Within  a  year  after 
the  Redondo  company  had  blazed  the  way,  the  Santa  Fe 
followed;  and  a  second  wharf  was  constructed  at  Redondo; 
and  presently  great  quantities  of  freight  from  the  north 
began  to  flow  into  Los  Angeles  by  way  of  the  new  port. 
In  1890  182  vessels  landed  cargoes  there;  in  1891,  194;  and 
in  1892,  250.  Among  these  were  many  deep-sea  vessels  that 
had  formerly  been  compelled  to  make  use  of  the  slow  and 
expensive  method  of  delivering  their  cargoes  by  lighters  at 
San  Pedro;  and  some  of  them  came  from  New  York  by 
way  of  Cape  Horn. 

By  the  year  1892  it  was  computed  that  over  60  per  cent 
of  all  the  water  traffic  in  and  out  of  Los  Angeles,  if  coal 
and  lumber  were  excluded,  was  passing  by  way  of  Redondo, 


THE  TERMINAL  RAILWAY.  65 

Now,  the  coal  that  came  into  San  Pedro  was  largely  used 
by  the  Southern  Pacific,  hence  the  company  was  limited  to 
its  lumber  business  and  about  half  its  former  general 
merchandise  business  to  pay  expenses  and  profits  on  its  San 
Pedro  branch;  and  from  being  a  very  handsome  piece  of 
property  that  line  began  to  hang  a  dead  weight. 

There  was  still  one  more  element  of  disadvantage  in  the 
Southern  Pacific's  San  Pedro  location,  and  one  which  is  rated 
by  many  people  as  most  serious,  although  it  was  made  light 
of  by  the  officials  of  the  road,  and  that  was  the  entrance  of  the 
Terminal  Railway  into  good  wharfage  ground  on  the  east 
side  of  the  interior  harbor.  The  Terminal  Company  was  a 
corporation  formed  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  and  holding 
terminal  facilities  in  the  city  of  Los  Angeles  and  upon  the 
ocean  front,  with  a  view  to  subsequently  leasing  them  to 
larger  systems  of  railways.  At  the  time  the  road  was  built 
which  was  in  1891-2,  it  was  generally  understood  that  the 
Union  Pacific,  which  was  just  then  undergoing  reorgan- 
ization, and  was  attempting  new  development,  or  perhaps 
some  one  of  the  other  roads  that  were  working  their  way 
westward  from  Denver,  would  come  down  from  Salt  Lake 
over  the  easy  grades  of  Utah,  Nevada  and  the  California 
desert  country,  to  Los  Angeles,  and  that  the  Terminal  was 
to  be  its  Los  Angeles  and  deep-water  outlet.  The  approach 
of  the  panic  deferred  immediate  action,  and  then  followed 
the  long  era  of  bad  times,  so  that  even  at  this  writing,  the 
expected  connection  with  Salt  Lake  City  has  not  been 
achieved.  Undoubtedly  the  projectors  of  the  Terminal,  who 
are  capitalists  and  railway  builders  living  in  St.  Louis,  R. 
C.  Kerens  and  Geo.  B.  Leighton  among  them,  are  in  touch 
with  any  development  that  is  likely  to  come  to  Los  Angeles 
from  a  northwesterly  direction,  and  it  is  proper  enough 
even  yet  to  refer  to  the  Terminal  as  the  probable  last  link 
of  a  new  transcontinental  line.  It  was  in  that  form  that  it 
originally  appeared  in  the  section,  and  the  regard  in  which  it 
was  held  by  the  people  was  in  some  measure  affected  by  their 
gratification  over  this  promise  of  new  gain  in  railway 
strength. 

In  establishing  its  connections'  to  the  north  and  northeast 
from  Los  Angeles — to  Glendale  and  to  Pasadena — the  Ter- 
minal purchased  existing  motor  roads,  but  when  it  made  its 


66  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

way  to  the  sea  it  constructed  a  new  and  an  independent  line. 
Relying  upon  the  judgment  of  the  United  States  engineers, 
that  San  Pedro  was  the  proper  place  for  a  deep-sea  harbor  tc 
be  located,  in  the  event  that  the  government  should  decide  to 
build  one,  and  believing  that  Congress  must  of  necessity 
follow  the  advice  of  the  engineers,  the  new  company  chose 
San  Pedro  as  its  ocean  terminus.  Its  line  parallels  the 
Southern  Pacific  about  five  miles  further  to  the  east,  until 
it  reaches  Long  Beach;  thence  it  makes  its  way  along  the 
coast  over  Rattlesnake — or,  as  it  was  rechristened,  Terminal 
Island — to  East  San  Pedro.  On  the  western  shore  of  the 
island,  along  the  interior  harbor,  wharves  were  constructed 
and  lumber,  coal  and  miscellaneous  merchandise  from  the 
sea  began  to  come  in  by  this  route. 

Thus  it  is  shown  that  the  Southern  Pacific,  regarding  the 
matter  purely  from  a  business  standpoint,  had  ample  justifi- 
cation for  its  efforts  to  secure  a  new  landing  place,  and 
it  chose — as  was  most  natural — the  point  that  was 
farthest  to  the  north  and  was  yet  practicable  for  use,  and 
also  the  location  where  it  was  least  likely  to  be  an- 
noyed by  competitors.  The  spot  selected  was  at  Port  Los 
Angeles —  the  name  given  it  by  Mr.  John  M.  Crawley,  the 
Los  Angeles  agent  of  the  Southern  Pacific — about  two  miles 
north  of  Santa  Monica  and  half  a  mile  north  of  the  mouth 
of  Santa  Monica  canyon. 

The  railway  line  to  Santa  Monica  was  extended  by  means 
of  a  tunnel  and  cut  through  the  bluff,  which  brought  the 
road  out  on  the  ocean  front.  The  beach  at  this  point  is  a  little 
over  300  feet  wide  and  the  bluff  is  about  70  feet  high.  As 
the  road  continues  to  the  north,  the  bluff  increases  in  height, 
until  1 80  feet  is  reached  in  the  vicinity  of  the  wharf.  The 
width  of  the  beach  is  about  the  same  throughout,  the  dis- 
tance varying,  we  may  say,  from  300  to  400  feet. 

The  wharf  which  the  company  put  out  at  this  spot  may 
be  perhaps  best  described  by  reproducing  an  official  utte! 
ance — a  clause  in  the  report  of  the  board  of  1896 — the  last 
of  the  many  harbor  commissions : 

"The  pier  built  by  the  Southern  Pacific  is  a  very  thor- 
oughly constructed  timber  pier,  the  piles  being  creosoted 
and  the  superstructure  carefully  designed.  In  locating  the 
pier  care  was  taken  to  align  it  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the 


CHIEF  ENGINEER  HOOD.  67 

direction  of  the  approach  of  the  heaviest  swells,  which  was 
determined  experimentally  to  be  south  42  degrees  24  minutes 
west,  magnetic.  The  tracks  of  the  Southern  Pacific  railway 
run  to  the  extreme  end  of  this  pier,  around  which  is  a  well- 
arranged  system  of  mooring  buoys,  so  that  vessels  lying  at 
the  pier  can  be  breasted  off,  leaving  them  free  to  rise  and  fall 
with  the  swell.  The  pier  is  4,300  feet  long  and  terminates 
in  $l/2  fathoms  of  water.  It  is  the  most  carefully  designed 
and  thoroughly  constructed  ocean  pier  on  the  California 
coast." 

Its  cost  was  on  one  occasion  stated  by  Mr.  Huntington  to 
be  about  $1,000,000.  This  was  the  figure  which  Mr.  Frye 
used  several  times  when  he  referred  to  it  in  the  Senate  and 
in  committee.  It  is  quite  probable  that  Mr.  Huntington  did 
not  mean  the  wharf  alone,  but  included  in  the  sum  which  he 
mentioned,  the  line  to  the  wharf  and  other  contingent  im- 
provements. Its  actual  cost  was  somewhere  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  $600,000. 

The  best  authority  as  to  the  views  and  purposes  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  road  in  this  whole  matter,  outside  of  Mr. 
Huntington  himself — and  perhaps  in  some  ways  a  better 
authority  even  than  Mr.  Huntington — is  Mr.  Hood.  The 
head  of  the  engineering  department  of  a  great  railway  sys- 
tem like  the  Southern  Pacific  is  something  more  than  an 
engineer.  He  is  of  necessity  a  financier,  a  business  man,  a 
lawyer,  a  manager  of  men  and  a  diplomat.  He  is,  or  should 
be,  an  "all  round"  man,  as  the  every-day  phrase  expresses  it; 
and  Mr.  Hood  comes  very  near  filling  this  difficult  and  ex- 
tensive bill  of  particulars.  His  management  of  the  South- 
ern Pacific's  case  for  Santa  Monica,  through  two  successive 
investigations  by  government  boards,  was  worthy  of  the 
praise  that  it  received  even  from  the  opponents  of  that  side; 
and  the  defeat  which  he  met  in  each  case,  and  the  ultimate 
failure  of  his  cause,  was  certainly  not  due  to  any  lack  of 
judgment  on  his  part,  but  to  the  difficult  policy  he  was  called 
upon  to  support.  It  is,  by  the  way,  one  splendidly  redeeming 
quality  of  this  corporation,  that  it  attracts  to  its  service  so 
many  men  of  fine  character  and  exceptional  abilities,  whc 
never  waver  in  their  allegiance,  and  who,  even  under  the 
most  trying  circumstances,  will  maintain  at  once  their  devo- 
tion to  the  road,  their  own  self-respect  and  the  ardent  regard 


68  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

of  those  with  whom  they  are  in  daily  contact.  It  happened 
that  the  two  men  who  were  in  charge  of  the  Southern 
Pacific's  affairs  in  Los  Angeles,  through  the  whole  of  this 
contest,  Mr.  John  A.  Muir,  the  superintendent  of  this  divis- 
ion, and  Mr.  J.  M.  Crawley,  the  general  agent,  were  men 
of  this  sort.  They  were  good  fighters,  and  they  stood  by 
the  works  as  long  as  there  was  anything  left  to  fight  for; 
but  they  descended  to  nothing  that  was  mean  or  tricky,  they 


JOHN  M.  CRAWLEY. 

kept  their  tempers  and  accumulated  no  crop  of  private  ene- 
mies— which  makes  up  a  record  that  may  give  them  just 
pride. 

But  to  return  to  Mr.  Hood.  When  he  was  on  the  stand 
as  a  witness  before  the  board  of  ''92,  he  was  asked  why  the 
Southern  Pacific  had  given  up  its  deep-water  wharf  project 
at  San  Pedro,  and  had  entered  upon  one  at  Santa  Monica. 
His  answer — which  is  important  as  the  statement  of  the 
railway  side  of  the  question — ran  as  follows :  "In  reference 
to  Santa  Monica,  I  will  say  that  the  Southern  Pacific  is  a 
corporation  that  has  many  millions  of  dollars  at  stake  in  its 
business.  It  is  riot  accustomed  to  build  wharves  4,500  feet 


FOR  BUSINESS  REASONS.  69 

long,  the  length  of  which  is  for  shipping  facilities,  when  it 
already  has  such  facilities  at  San  Pedro.  But  it  has  been 
borne  in  on  this  company  so  peremptorily  by  nature — for 
freight  and  passenger  business  follows  the  laws  of  nature — 
that  any  company  that  relied  wholly  for  their  connection  of 
rail  with  ships  on  San  Pedro  would  go  to  the  wall  in  that 
regard.  So  that  now  we  are  building,  without  any  reference 
to  any  breakwater  proposition,  or  deep-sea  harbor  proposi- 
tion whatever,  a  wharf  at  Santa  Monica  which  will,  ten 
months  in  the  year,  take  safely,  we  think,  any  sea-going 
vessels  that  choose  to  come  there.  We  are  going  to  carry 
that  to  completion,  and  the  expense  will  be  very  great;  there 
is  where  we  expect  to  do  a  great  deal  of  business.  And 
it  is  so  obvious  to  any  business  man  that  a  company  like  the 
Southern  Pacific  is  not  going  to  make  such  an  expenditure 
for  any  other  reason  than  the  actual  necessities  of  the  case, 
that  I  think  it  calls  for  no  demonstration." 

The  primary  reason,  then,  for  the  Southern  Pacific's 
change  of  base  from  San  Pedro  to  Santa  Monica,  accord- 
ing to  the  statement  of  one  of  its  leading  officials,  was  to 
secure  the  coast  business  which  was  slipping  away  from 
it.  Subsequently  various  other  reasons  were  developed; 
one  was  that  the  holding-ground  at  San  Pedro  was  bad,  but 
this  was  abandoned  when  put  to  the  test;  another  was  that 
the  proposed  deep-water  harbor  at  San  Pedro  would  be  less 
adapted  to  any  scheme  of  bringing  ship  and  rail  together 
than  at  Santa  Monica,  and  that  vessels  lying  at  the  former 
harbor  were  more  subject  to  danger  from  winds  and  heavy 
seas  than  at  the  latter.  In  the  end  the  road  succeeded  in 
working  up  a  complete  and  well-rounded  case  against  San 
Pedro  and  in  favor  of  Santa  Monica,  based  on  purely  techni- 
cal grounds ;  but  its  action  in  the  first  place  was  undoubtedly 
from  the  motive  of  business  interest  alone. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  ISSUE  TAKES  SHAPE. 

IN  presenting  the  motives  of  the  Southern  Pacific's 
change  of  base,  we  have  been  compelled  to  anticipate, 
to  some  extent,  the  succession  of  events  as  they  actually  oc 
curred.  For  example,  it  was  not  evident,  at  the  time  the 
long  wharf  at  Santa  Monica  was  begun  in  1891,  that  the  road 
contemplated  any  change  in  its  attitude  with  reference  to  a 
deep-sea  harbor.  Indeed,  it  was  not  until  the  Craighill  board 
met  in  the -fall  of  1892,  that  the  outlines  of  the  plan  were 
developed,  and  even  then  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of 
Los  Angeles  were  not  disposed  to  regard  the  matter 
seriously.  It  was  still  another  year  before  the  nature  of  the 
entire  scheme  was  reached,  and  the  public  came  thoroughly 
to  understand  the  issue  and  prepared  to  act  upon  it. 

In  the  fall  of  1891  Charles  Felton,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  Senatorial 
term  of  George  Hearst,  deceased,  visited  Los  Angeles  on 
the  request  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  inspected  the  har- 
bor at  San  Pedro,  and  was  present  at  a  public  meeting  when 
the  matter  of  an  appropriation  to  begin  work  on  the  outside 
harbor  was  discussed.  General  Vandever,  whose  four  years 
of  service  as  representative  of  the  Sixth  Congressional  dis- 
trict had  now  concluded,  and  W.  W.  Bowers,  of  San  Diego, 
his  successor,  were  both  present  at  this  gathering.  Mr.  Fel- 
ton inquired  very  thoroughly  into  the  facts  of  the  case,  and 
promised. to  make  it  one  of  the  special  objects  of  his  first 
year's  work  to  secure  the  initial  appropriation. 

Early  in  1892  Senator  Felton  and  Representative  Bowers 
wrole  to  the  chamber,  advising  that,  if  possible,  a  special 
delegate  be  sent  on  to  watch  the  San  Pedro  item  in  its 
progress  through  the  two  houses.  This  was  in  accordance 
with  the  plan  already  adopted  by  the  chamber,  and  steadily 
adhered  to  ever  since,  of  sending  some  capable  representative 
citizen  to  assist  the  congressmen  in  caring  for  the  section's 
commercial  interest.  This  method  was  preferred  to  that  in 
vogue  in  some  quarters  of  hiring  the  expert,  but  often  un- 
scrupulous, lobbyists  that  may  be  had  in  Washington. 


T.  E.  GIBBON'S  SERVICES.  71 

For  this  purpose  the  Chamber  selected  one  of  its  direc- 
tors, Mr.  Charles  Forman,  a  gentleman  who  is  held  in  great 
esteem  in  Los  Angeles  for  ability  and  high  character.  He 
has  since  that  time  served  two  terms  as  president  of  the 
organization,  of  which  he  was  then  a  director.  He  was  to 
be  accompanied  by  a  young  man  whose  name  will  appear, 
frequently  in  these  pages  hereafter,  as  a  large  factor  in  the 


T.   E.  GIBBON. 

fight,  and,  both  for  the  part  he  played  and  for  the  unusual 
character  that  he  is,  he  deserves  more  than  passing  mention. 
Thomas  Edward  Gibbon,  whose  direct  interest  in  the  con- 
test grows  out  of  his  position  as  attorney  and  vice-president 
of  the  Terminal  railway,  was  at  this  time  barely  thirty  years 
of  age,  and  a  comparatively  recent  accession  to  Los  Angeles 
from  Arkansas.  The  son  of  a  studious  and  thoughtful 
country  doctor,  whose  fortunes  were  broken  by  the  war,  but 


72  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

whose  "library  was  dukedom  large  enough,"  he  came 
through  heredity  to  those  scholarly  characteristics  that  are  to 
most  men  the  outgrowth  of  years  of  work  at  school  and 
college — representing  privileges  to  him  denied.  After  a 
youth  spent  in  the  hard,  steady  labor  of  the  farm,  with  even- 
ings of  Shakespeare  and  Scott,  he  studied  law,  and  began  to 
practice  in  the  city  ,of  Little  Rock. 

Politics  was  to  him  an  infantile  disease,  from  which  he 
suffered  acutely  for  a  time,  and  then  recovered,  with  no 
serious  after-consequences.  He  was  the  youngest  member 
of  the  Arkansas  Legislature  of  1895,  and  that  the  entire 
State  was  not  reformed  and  made  over  forthwith  was  proba- 
bly not  due  to  any  lack  of  enthusiasm  and  vigor  on  his  part. 
The  total  collapse  of  his  health,  a  year  or  two  later,  caused 
him  to  lay  down  his  work  and  spend  some  months  in  Europe. 
Like  three  men  out  of  four  now  living  in  Los  Angeles,  he 
came  to  Southern  California  "on  a  doctor's  certificate." 
There  he  renewed  the  practice  of  law  and  the  affairs  of  the 
Terminal  were  presently  placed  in  his  hands. 

While  Mr.  Gibbon's  part  in  the  contest  was  affected  to 
some  extent,  without  doubt,  by  his  relations  to  the  Terminal, 
yet  anyone  who  knows  him  well  will  admit  that  he  must, 
sooner  or  later,  have  taken  an  active  hand  in  the  contest,  had 
he  been  free  from  business  affiliations  with  either  side.  In 
the  first  place,  he  inherits  from  some  Irish  ancestor  that  pe- 
culiarly delicate  and  indefinable  characteristic  which 
prompts  men  who  are  entirely  averse  to  seeking  a  quarrel, 
thoroughly  to  enjoy  one  that  is  forced  upon  them.  Then, 
again,  being  himself  essentially  a  man  of  the  people,  and 
naturally  democratic  in  his  tastes  and  tendencies,  Mr.  Gib 
bon  must  inevitably  have  lined  up  with  the  anti-monopoly 
side  of  the  fight.  His  heart  was  very  thoroughly  with  his 
head  in  the  battle,  and  a  boundless  enthusiasm,  and  a  confi- 
dence in  the  ultimate  success  of  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
righteous  cause,  came  to  aid  his  indomitable  perseverance 
and  energy. 

Mr.  Gibbon  was  almost  the  first,  if  not  indeed  the  very 
first,  out  of  the  many  who  were  interested  in  the  harbor  at 
San  Pedro,  to  outline  the  plan  of  the  Southern  Pacific  to 
go  to  Santa  Monica,  abandoning  the  ancient  harbor.  Before 
his  departure  for  Washington,  in  January  of  1892,  he  de- 


SENATOR  FELTON'S  AMENDMENT.  73 

tailed  to  one  of  the  officers  of  the  Chamber  his  theory  that, 
owing  to  the  gain  in  time  between  San  Francisco  and  Santa 
Monica,  as  against  San  Pedro,  the  Southern  Pacific  was 
likely  to  favor  the  more  northern  port. 

His  theory  did  not  receive  much  attention,  but  was  at- 
tributed to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  "new-comer"  and  presum- 
ably unacquainted  with  existing  conditions.  The  Southern 
Pacific  had  for  twenty  years  worked  faithfully  in  conjunc- 
tion with  the  people  of  Los  Angeles  for  the  development  of 
San  Pedro  harbor,  and  they  had  even  torn  down  and  cut  to 
pieces  their  wharf  at  Santa  Monica.  On  the  occasion  of 
Senator  Felton's  recent  visit  to  the  port,  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific had  graciously  provided  a  train  free  of  charge  for  him 
and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  party.  The  corporation  was 
a  good  friend  of  the  people  of  this  section;  there  was  no 
such  feeling  against  it  as  existed  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
State.  Besides,  to  settle  the  question  of  location,  once  and 
for  all,  had  not  the  government  sent  a  commission  of  engi- 
neers, and  had  they  not  reported  favorably  on  a  harbor  at 
San  Pedro? 

Circumstances  delayed  the  departure  of  General  Forman, 
and  the  bill  coming  on  for  early  action  in  the  Senate,  it 
was  not  until  the  succeeding  year  that  he  fulfilled  the  mis- 
sion. Mr.  Gibbon  went  on  alone,  and  presently  returned 
with  surprising  news  that  confirmed  his  predictions. 

True  to  his  pledge  Senator  Felton  had  presented  the 
cause  of  the  San  Pedro  deep-water  improvement  so  forcibly 
to  the  Committee  on  Commerce,  that  there  seemed  at  one 
time  a  possibility  that  the  item  of  $250,000,  which  was  the 
sum  set  for  the  original  direct  appropriation,  might  carry.* 

Then  it  was  that  Senator  Frye  produced  a  telegram  signed 
by  Wm.  Hood,  the  Southern  Pacific  chief  of  engineers, 
which  was  the  opening  gun  of  the  great  contest. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  no  copy  of  this  telegram  forms 
part  of  the  public  record  of  the  case,  inasmuch  as  its  exact 
substance  was  the  cause  of  no  little  debate  a  few  years  later. 
It  was  asserted  at  the  time,  by  those  who  heard  it  read,  that 
it  was  chiefly  taken  up  with  the  statement  that  the  holding 


*  It  was  thought  best  not  to  attempt  the  continuing  contract  form  of 
appropriation,  but  to  apply  for  a  portion  of  the  required  sum  to  be 
available  directly. 


74  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

ground  at  San  Pedro  was  rock,  and  could  not  be  made 
usable,  and  that  the  Southern  Pacific's  abandonment  of  its 
projected  wharf  to  deep  water  at  that  place  was  due  to  the 
impossibility  of  driving  piles  into  the  hard  bottom.  Sen- 
ator Frye  evidently  considered  that  the  basis  of  the  techni- 
cal objection  to  San  Pedro,  for  he  referred  to  it  time  and 
again  in  his  speeches,  even  after  the  Craighill  board  had 
thoroughly  disproved  the  statement;  and  he  quoted  Mr. 
Hood  as  his  authority.  The  interesting,  not  to  say  amusing, 
feature  of  the  case,  and  the  reason  why  the  substance  of 
the  telegram  was  subsequently  under  dispute,  was  that  four 
years  later  Mr.  Hood  testified  before  the  Walker  board  that 
the  holding  ground  of  San  Pedro  was  all  right,  and  prac- 
tically free  from  rock  Of  course,  as  a  scientific  man  and  as 
an  engineer,  he  could  not  say  anything  else;  for  it  is  not  a 
rocky  bottom. 

However,  Mr.  Hood's  objections  to  San  Pedro,  as  set 
forth  in  the  famous  mislaid  telegram,  were  of  a  sort  to 
prove  convincing  to  the  commerce  committee,  and  the  item 
of  $250,000  was  thrown  out.  Senator  Felton  then  ap- 
pealed to  the  committee  to  take  the  proper  steps  to  settle  the 
question  of  the  harbor  site — "once  and  for  all" — and  also, 
since  the  question  had  been  asked  by  several  members  of 
the  committee,  whether  there  was  any  reason  for  building 
such  a  harbor  at  either  location,  to  get  a  decision  for  that 
point  as  well. 

In  response  to  Senator  Felton's  appeal,  the  following  was 
inserted  in  the  River  and  Harbor  bill  of  1892,  which  formed 
the  basis  of  the  appointment  of  what  was  subsequently 
known  as  the  "Craighill  Board :" 

The  Secretary  of  War  is  hereby  authorized  and  directed 
to  appoint  a  board  of  five  engineering  officers  of  the  United 
States  Army,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  make  a  careful  and 
critical  examination  for  a  proposed  deep-water  harbor  at 
San  Pedro  or  Santa  Monica  Bays,  and  to  report  which  is 
the  more  eligible  location  for  such  a  harbor  in  depth,  width 
and  capacity  to  accommodate  the  largest  ocean-going  ves- 
sels, and  the  commercial  and  naval  necessities  of  the  country, 
togther  with  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  the  same.  Said 
Board  of  Engineers  shall  report  the  result  of  its  investiga- 
tions to  the  Secretary  of  War  on  or  before  the  first  of  No- 


GOOD  WILL  TOWARD  THE  RAILROAD.          75 

vember,  1892;  and  ten  thousand  dollars,  or  so  much  thereof 
as  may  be  necessary,  are  hereby  apprpriated  for  said  pur- 
pose. 

The  phrase  "and  the  commercial  and  naval  necessities  of 
the  country"  was  interpreted  to  mean  that  the  Board  should 
consider  what  relation  the  proposed  harbor  bore  to  the  com- 
merce not  of  Southern  California  alone  but  of  the  whole 
country.  In  this  way  the  vexed  question  of  whether  any 
harbor  was  needed  would  also  be  settled  "once  and  for  all." 
The  phrase  is  quoted  because  it  at  last  became  a  byword 
with  the  people  of  Los  Angeles,  who  saw  one  "final  set- 
tlement" after  another  brushed  aside  by  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific. 

No  one  thought  of  Santa  Monica  as  an  alternative  factor 
in  the  case,  until  the  Craighill  Board  was  about  to  begin  its 
investigations  the  following  summer,  and  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific formally  took  up  the  cause  of  Port  Los  Angeles.  From 
this  "no  one,"  however,  we  must  except  Mr.  Gibbon,  and  a 
few  who  had  begun  to  listen  with  interest  and  some  degree 
of  confidence  to  the  "damnable  iteration"  of  his  theories. 

But  even  as  people,  one  by  one  and  slowly,  came  to  under- 
stand the  Southern  Pacific's  position,  there  was  no  feeling 
of  special  resentment  against  that  corporation  since  its  right 
to  favor  any  locality  it  might  choose  for  such  an  improve- 
ment was  generally  conceded.  Many  regretted  that  the  is- 
sue had  been  raised,  but  they  made  no  question  that  the 
board  which  was  to  be  appointed  would  put  an  end  to  all 
debate. 

The  citizens  of  Los  Angeles  and  vicinity  were  at  that 
time  generally  well-disposed  toward  the  Southern  Pacific; 
it  had  treated  the  people  fairly  and  had  received  full  justice 
in  return.  There  were  not  lacking,  of  course,  those  who 
made  a  point  of  explaining  that  this  amicable  state  of  affairs 
was  entirely  due  to  the  presence  in  Southern  California  of 
an  active  competitor,  and  that  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  State — where  no  such  competition  existed — the 
Southern  Pacific  was  in  very  bad  odor  for  its  exactions 
and  its  harsh  treatment  of  patrons;  but  to  them  it  was 
answered  that  the  north  might  fight  its  own  battles :  we 
of  the  south  were  not  concerned.  The  general  sen- 
timent with  regard  to  the  railroad  was  that  it  had 


76  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

been  one  of  the  most  important  factors  in  bringing  pros- 
perity to  the  section,  fighting  its  way  across  the  desert  coun- 
try of  the  southwest,  at  a  time  when  the  outlook  was  most 
discouraging,  and  opening  up  with  its  many  branches  all  sec- 
tions of  Southern  California.  It  was  operated  in  a  thor- 
ough, systematic  and  orderly  style,  which  at  that  time  pre- 
sented something  of  a  contrast  to  its  chief  competitor,  the 
Santa  Fe,  then  in  the  depths  of  financial  difficulty.*  Its  peo- 
ple were  trained  to  politeness  and  consideration,  and  they 
were,  as  a  rule,  well  liked.  It  rarely  happens  that  a  railway 
corporation,  as  such,  can  be  described  as  popular,  especially 
in  a  country  where,  according  to  Poor's  Manual,  more  than 
half  of  the  securities  for  which  earnings  must  be  made  are 
fictitious;  nevertheless,  the  Southern  Pacific  in  Los  Angeles 
up  to  and  even  into  the  beginning  of  the  harbor  contest, 
came  very  near  to  enjoying  that  exalted  state. 

Therefore  it  happened,  that  when  the  purposes  of  the 
road  were  finally  developed,  a  great  many  people,  who  had 
been  warm  advocates  of  the  San  Pedro  location,  began  to 
declare  openly,  that  if  our  great  and  good  friend  Hunting- 
ton — great  for  his  wealth  and  his  recognized  power  at  Wash- 
ington, and  good  in  that  he  seemed  to  favor  us  as  against  the 
northern  part  of  the  State — desired  the  harbor  to  go  to 
Santa  Monica,  he  should  be  given  his  own  way — what  dif- 
ference did  it  make  to  the  people  of  Los  Angeles?  Santa 
Monica  was  seveial  miles  nearer  than  San  Pedro.  It  was  a 
beautiful  location  and  popular  as  a  summer  resort,  while 
there  were  drunken  sailors  frequently  to  be  seen  at  the  other 
place.  Probably  the  government  engineers  had  made  some 
mistake;  Mr.  Hood  was  a  high  authority  in  the  profession. 

To  this  an  answer  was  offered,  that  Congress  was  not 
likely  to  appropriate  money  for  a  harbor  against  the  advice 
of  its  own  engineers;  and  it  was  also  stated,  now  for  the 
first  time,  that  the  Southern  Pacific  had  been  buying  land 
along  the  shore  where  the  proposed  harbor  was  to  be  located, 
and  if  Santa  Monica  won,  it  meant  a  "monopoly  harbor." 

However,  before  the  debate  had  more  than  fairly  begun,  the 


*This  condition  of  contrast,  it  is  perhaps  needless  to  say,  no  longer 
exists,  for  the  Santa  F6  at  the  present  time  is  one  of  the  best  equipped 
and  best  conducted  roads  in  the  Union. 


A  PUBLIC  SESSION.  77 

Craighill  Board  came  to  Los  Angeles,  and  a  general  armistice 
was  decreed  until  their  report  should  be  heard.  On  all  hands 
it  was  admitted  that  this  report  was  to  "settle  the  question." 


CHAPTER  IX. 
THE  CRAIGHILL  BOARD. 

THE  Board  of  Engineers,  which  Senator  Felton's  amend- 
ment called  for,  was  appointed  early  in  July,  1892, 
and  consisted  of  the  following :  Colonel  Wm.  P.  Craighill,. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Henry  M.  Robert,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Peter  C.  Hains,  Major  C.  W.  Raymond  and  Major  Thos. 
H.  Handbury,  all  of  the  United  States  corps  of  engineers, 
and  well  skilled  in  harbor  work. 

This  Board  convened  at  San  Francisco  in  September,  and 
after  examining  the  maps  and  charts  on  file  at  headquarters 
of  the  Coast  and  Geodetic  survey,  repaired  to  Los  An- 
geles, where  it  was  announced  they  would  hold  a  public 
meeting  on  the  8th  at  the  rooms  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. 

Some  little  surprise  was  expressed  at  the  idea  of  a  public 
meeting  for  the  consideration  of  what  was  supposed  to  be 
purely  a  technical  issue,  but  subsequent  developments  proved 
the  wisdom  of  this  plan.  While  it  is  not  probable  that  any 
very  material  facts  that  assisted  the  Board  in  coming  to  a 
decision,  were  brought  out  by  this  process,  it  did  away  with 
the  possibility  of  any  claim  that  the  proceedings  were  of  a 
"star  chamber"  character,  or  that  either  side  failed  of  a  fair 
hearing.  It  is  the  established  practice  of  the  government  in 
such  cases  to  call  on  the  people  generally  for  any  evidence 
they  may  have  to  offer;  and  afterward  a  technical  considera- 
tion is  given  to  winds,  waves,  currents,  soundings,  borings, 
and  other  matters  on  which  the  public  is  presumably  not  so- 
well  informed. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  tendered  its  large  meeting- 
hall  for  the  use  of  the  Board,  its  officers  stating  that  while 
the  organization  had  heretofore  been  in  favor  of  the  San 
Pedro  location,  now  that  the  question  was  opened  up  afresh 


78  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

by  the  government,  it  would  maintain  an  attitude  of  neu- 
trality. 

Several  hundred  people  were  present  at  the  meeting,  about 
equally  divided  in  number  between  the  three  ports  of  San 
Pedro,  Santa  Monica  and  Redondo.  C.  M.  Wells,  the  pres- 
ident of  the  Chamber,  occupied  the  chair,  and  in  his  opening 
remarks  said : 

It  is  proper  to  say  that,  in  this  matter  of  selecting  the  best 
site  for  a  harbor  upon  this  coast,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
is  not  taking  a  part;  is  not  throwing  its  influence  in  favor 
of  one  place  as  against  another.  Los  Angeles  city  and  the 
surrounding  country  desire  a  deep-water  harbor,  and  we 
all  understand  that  it  is  the  effort  of  these  eminent  engineer- 
ing officers  to  determine  which  is  the  most  suitable  point  for 
the  construction  of  such  a  harbor,  and  where  it  can  be  con- 
structed at  the  least  cost.  So  that  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
is  simply  aiding  these  engineers  in  collecting  their  informa- 
tion; and  that  is  what  this  meeting  is  for. 

Although  a  large  part  of  the  testimony  offered  was  of  an 
irregular  and  unscientific  character  —  as  was  to  be  ex- 
pected—  and  some  of  it  partook  rather  of  the  nature  of 
stump  speaking,  a  number  of  points  were  brought  out  that 
had  a  decided  bearing  on  the  contest,  whatever  weight  they 
may  have  had  with  the  engineers. 

The  question  of  the  Southern  Pacific  ownership  in  and 
around  the  Santa  Monica  location  was  thus  briefly  touched 
upon  by  Mr.  Shorb  in  his  opening  remarks : 

There  are  some  matters  that  I  think  ought  to  be  given 
public  expression  to  here.  I  do  not  speak  with  any  rancor 
or  any  unkindness,  but  there  are  some  things  that  look 
rather  peculiar,  and  that  we,  as  citizens,  have  a  right  to 
inquire  into.  During  all  these  years,  since  Alexander  and 
Mendell  and  those  gentlemen  have  been  employed  in  com- 
pleting the  improvements  at  San  Pedro,  the  advantages 
there  have  principally  been  to  the  Southern  Pacific  Com- 
pany. I  have  had  long  conversations  with  Governor  Stan- 
ford and  Mr.  Huntington.  Both  these  gentlemen  have 
time  and  again  said  that  Wilmington  was  their  only  point. 
Governor  Stanford  told  me  himself  that  he  proposed  to 
make  it  the  work  of  his  senatorial  life  to  secure  for  that 
point  such  appropriations  as  might  be  needed.  He  even 
went  so  far,  after  acquiring  wharf  privileges  at  Santa 


THE  SOUTHERN  PACIFIC  CHANGE.  79 

Monica  and  building  and  using  a  wharf,  as  to  pull  it  down. 
I  think  it  is  a  privilege  and  a  right  for  us  to  enquire  now : 
How  is  it  that  those  gentlemen  think  all  that  has  been 
done  down  here  has  been  wasted  money,  and  that  the  only 
point  for  the  government  engineers  to  select  is  some  place 
down  here  in  the  gorge  of  Santa  Monica,  which,  according  to 
commpn  report — I  don't  state  it  as  a  fact,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  that  these  gentlemen  will  answer  that  proposition — 
is  to  work  to  their  exclusive  advantage,  if  built  ? 

The  same  point  was  argued  more  at  length  by  Dr.  J.  P. 
Widney,  as  follows : 

I  went  with  Governor  Stanford  over  the  San  Pedro  har- 
bor several  times.  For  twelve  or  fifteen  years  they  said 
only  one  thing:  "There  is  no  other  point  on  this  coast 
where  we  have  even  thought  of  going."  And  they  ex- 
amined it  all  carefully.  And  Governor  Stanford  said :  "I 
expect  to  live  to  see  the  day  when  our  commerce  goes  to 
San  Pedro  instead  of  San  Francisco."  And  they  stayed 
there  for  years.  And  that  was  their  only  point  when  they 
tore  down  their  wharf  at  Santa  Monica,  and  said  that  it 
was  worthless.  Now  they  want  to  change  front  and  say, 
"We  will  go  to  Santa  Monica."  I  am  sorry  to  say,  gentle- 
men, we  have  realized  one  thing  in  this  country.  The 
Southern  Pacific  came  here  and  at  first  had  everybody  for 
its  friend;  but  we  have  learned  that  when  they  want  any- 
thing very  badly  our  interest  lies  the  other  way.  They  have 
whirled  front,  after  about  fifteen  years  use  and  advocacy 
of  San  Pedro,  and  have  gone  to  Santa  Monica  and  are 
building  a  wharf  there.  And  I  would  advise  our  citizens 
to  ask  who  owns  the  land  right  back  of  there.  I  don't  know. 
I  know  some  of  my  acquaintances  were  endeavoring  -to 
buy  a  certain  tract  of  land  down  about  Santa  Monica  can- 
yon, involving  a  great  many  hundred  acres.  The  man 
said  it  was  bid  in  for  the  Southern  Pacific.  It  is  gone. 
We  have  lost  it.  It  is  not  in  their  name,  but  it  is  bought 
for  them.  Here  is  a  narrow  strip  of  land  in  front  of  a 
bluff  about  one  hundred  feet  high,  and  the  Southern  Pacific 
has  a  right-of-way  all  along  that;  and  that  is  where  the 
breakwater  is  to  go ;  and  what  chance  has  anybody  else  ?  At 
San  Pedro  we  have  two  railroads  in  already.  We  have  a 
large  private  ownership  on  the  interior  harbor,  and  the  city 
retains  part  ownership. 

The  Southern  Pacific  answer  to  these  "miserable  insinu- 


8o  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

ations,"  as  they  were  denominated  by  Judge  Carpenter,  who 
conducted  the  case  for  that  corporation  and  for  Santa 
Monica,  was  to  place  on  the  stand  Mr.  Chas.  Monroe,  an 
attorney  of  Los  Angeles,  who  testified  that  as  the  representa- 
tives of  Messrs.  Jcnes  and  Baker,  who  owned  the  land  along 
the  beach  from  the  town  of  Santa  Monica  to  the  canyon,  he 
had  arranged  the  papers  for  the  right-of-way  of  the  South- 
ern Pacific,  giving  them  a  strip  50  feet  wide  directly  under 
the  bluff,  and  that  the  object  of  Messrs.  Jones  and  Baker 
in  so  placing  the  right-of-way  had  been  to  leave  room  for 
other  railroads  between  the  Southern  Pacific  and  tide  water ; 
and  also  Mr.  Wm.  Hood,  who  showed  a  plat  of  the  property 
holdings  along  the  beach  in  the  vicinity  of  the  proposed 
breakwater.  He  stated  that  a  gentleman,  who  might  be  re- 
garded as  the  representative  of  Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington,  held 
2,000  feet  of  frontage  running  to  the  water's  edge  imme- 
diately back  of  the  wharf,  but  he  declared  that  this  left  over 
two-thirds  of  the  protected  area  still  open  to  use  by  other 
roads.  In  the  cross-examination  by  Mr.  Gibbon  the  situ- 
ation was  developed  somewhat  further,  as  follows : 

Mr.  Gibbon:  As  I  understand  you,  this  land  here,  ex- 
tending from  the  canyon,  is  the  private  property  of  Mr. 
Huntington,  the  president  of  the  company  ? 

Mr.  Hood :  I  say  it  is  my  opinion  that  it  is.  I  don't 
know  the  details,  but  I  understand  it  to  be  so;  and  you 
might  as  well  assume  it. 

Mr.  Gibbon :     That  is  land  with  a  very  high  bluff  ? 

Mr.  Hood :    Yes,  sir. 

Mr.  Gibbon :  And  your  company  owns  or  controls  all 
this  property  here.  That  represents  a  frontage  of  how 
much? 

Mr.  Hood :     It  is  about  2000  feet,  more  or  less. 

Mr.  Gibbon:  What  we  are  getting  at  just  now  is  the 
length  of  the  usable  land  for  railroad  purposes,  the  breadth, 
rather,  between  those  aligning  bluffs  and  tide  water. 

Mr.  Hood:  I  think  other  roads  could  go  parallel  with 
ours,  outside  the  right  of  way,  for  about  seventy-five  or 
eighty  feet,  and  hold  it,  as  we  propose  to  hold  it,  with  rock. 

Mr.  Gibbon :  But  you  cut  off  all  access  here.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  cut  across  your  track  to  get  across  here. 

Mr.  Hood :    It  would  be;  but  there  is  room  here. 

Mr.   Gibbon:     In  point  of   fact,   your  company  at  the 


DECISION  REGARDED  AS  FINAL.  81 

present  time  occupies  a  strip  of  land  the  full  width  of  the 
water  front,  leaving  possible  for  any  other  company  a  very 
narrow  strip  of,  say,  seventy-five  feet  in  width? 

Mr.  Hood:  No,  averaging  at  least  a  hundred;  about 
room  for  seven  tracks,  without  doing  any  strengthening 
work  to  protect  against  the  ocean. 

Mr.  Gibbon :  And  there  is  no  possible  approach  from  this 
side,  because  that  is  all  bluff  ? 

Mr.  Hood :    That  would  be  very  difficult. 

No  extended  argument  on  this  subject  was  offered,  either 
because  the  San  Pedro  people  were  not  yet  sufficiently  sure 
of  their  ground,  or  else  because  it  was  thought  the  case  was 
strong  enough  on  the  technical  merits  of  the  two  harbors. 
As  we  have  said  before,  the  so-called  "monopoly"  feature 
of  the  harbor,  which  was  afterwards  the  subject  of  so  much 
discussion,  was  at  this  time  seldom  referred  to. 

That  there  was  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  San  Pedro 
people  to  regard  the  decision  of  this  Board  as  a  finality — 
whatever  it  might  be — shows  very  clearly  in  the  utterance 
of  Mr.  Shorb,  who  was  the  acknowledged  representative  of 
that  side  of  the  case.  He  said,  in  beginning  his  remarks 
to  the  Board :  "Whatever  your  decision  may  be  in  reference 
to  this  point,  gentlemen,  in  behalf  of  myself,  in  behalf  of  the 
people  of  Wilmington  and  San  Pedro,  we  bow  absolute  sub- 
mission to  your  judgment." 

While  none  of  the  Santa  Monica  or  Southern  Pacific 
speakers  put  the  idea  into  definite  words  that  appear  in  the 
record,  it  was  freely  expressed  in  conversation,  and  Judge 
Carpenter  showed  it  in  the  sentiment  of  his  concluding 
speech,  in  which  he  said : 

But  after  all,  gentlemen  of  the  Board,  the  question 
comes  down  to  a  matter  of  engineering,  a  matter  of  figures; 
and  that  you  will  determine  from  the  proof  that  has  been 
and  will  be  laid  before  you.  We  want  what  is  fair.  We 
want  no  aspersions  cast  upon  anybody,  without  some  proof. 
We  have  cast  none  upon  the  other  side.  We  have  abused 
nobody;  we  have  denounced  nobody;  we  have  questioned 
nobody's  motives,  and  we  humbly  submit  that  nobody  has 
a  right,  in  the  name  of  morality  or  conscience,  or  any 
other  thing,  to  question  ours,  until  there  is  some  proof  that 
they  are  wrong. 

We  stand  upon  our  manhood  and  our  rights.     We  can 


82  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

defend  Santa  Monica  without  aspersing  or  lying  about  or 
abusing  San  Pedro  or  Redondo  or  any  railroad  under 
heaven.  We  stand  upon  the  bottom  of  truth  and  justice 
and  commercial  economy,  and  the  best  interests  of  the  peo- 
ple of  Southern  California;  and  that  is  a  platform  that  will 
stand,  when  all  these  miserable  insinuations,  with  their 
authors,  are  buried  in  eternal  oblivion. 

The  report  of  the  Board  was  filed  October  27,  1892, 
and  was  presented  to  Congress  and  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Rivers  and  Harbors  December  7. 

It  is  an  interesting  and  comprehensive  document,  and 
practically  completes  the  case  for  San  Pedro  from  the  tech- 
nical point  of  view.  It  failed  to  touch  on  the  question  of 
the  Southern  Pacific  control  of  Santa  Monica,  either  to  absolve 
it  from  the  charge  or  to  condemn  it.  But  the  Board  did  con- 
sider, with  practical  thoroughness,  the  question  of  the 
national  commercial  necessity  for  a  harbor  in  Southern  Cal- 
ifornia near  Los  Angeles. 

After  a  brief  introduction,  describing  the  work  of  the 
Board,  the  report  takes  up  the  general  topic  of  commercial 
and  naval  relations,  as  follows  :* 

Santa  Monica  and  San  Pedro  bays  are  situated  upon  the 
southern  coast  of  California,  between  Point  Dume  and  Point 
Lasuen.  Santa  Monica  bay  extends  from  Point  Dume  to 
Point  Vincente,  and  San  Pedro  bay  from  Point  Fermin  to 
Point  Lasuen.  Back  of  this  portion  of  the  coast  lie  the 
counties  of  Los  Angeles,  Orange,  and  San  Bernardino, 
which  include  the  most  productive  and  valuable  territory  in 
Southern  California.  The  good  lands  in  this  region  are  sit- 
uated generally  close  together  and  are  easily  accessible  by 
land  or  sea.  The  facilities  for  irrigation  are  excellent  and 
capable  of  great  future  extension.  Owing  to  these  advan- 
tages this  territory  is  now,  and  doubtless  will  continue  to  be 
the  most  important  in  the  Southern  part  of  the  State. 

The  commercial  center  of  this  region  is  the  city  of  Los 
Angeles,  which  is  situated  about  thirteen  miles  from  the 


*  It  has  been  thought  advisable  to  present  the  report  of  the  Craighill 
Board  almost  in  full,  as  it  constitutes  the  best  technical  treatise  on  the 
merits  of  the  two  harbors.  The  report  of  the  Walker  Board,  which 
considered  the  same  topic  two  years  later,  is  more  voluminous  and 
represents  a  greater  amount  of  thorough  investigation,  but  its  con- 
clusions are  practically  identical  with  those  of  the  Craighill  report,  and 
it  offers  very  little  material  that  is  really  new. 


sr^8a*£rvA^ 


,*°*lt 


T 


o 


QALIFORNIA 

COMPILED  FOP  THE 


RELIEF  MAP  OF  I.OS  ANGELES  COUNTY. 


84  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

nearest  point  on  the  coast.  This  city  has  grown  with  great 
rapidity,  and  has  now  a  population  of  about  55,000.  It  is 
not  only  the  principal  city  of  the  most  productive  district, 
but  it  is  also  the  point  of  intersection  of  all  the  southern 
transcontinental  and  coastwise  railway  lines,  and  it  will 
probably  always  be  the  most  important  city  of  Southern 
California. 

Owing  to  the  topography  of  the  country  the  natural 
ocean  outlet  of  this  region  must  be  found  between  Points 
Dume  and  San  Juan  Capistrano;  in  other  words,  either  in 
Santa  Monica  or  San  Pedro  bay.  High  mountain  ranges, 
requiring  heavy  grades,  expensive  to  work,  obstruct  its 
communication  with  the  port  of  San  Diego,  the  only  har- 
bor on  the  south;  and  on  the  north  the  approaches  to  the 
coast  are  difficult,  and  there  is  no  good  harbor  nearer  than 
San  Francisco  bay. 

The  principal  products  of  this  region  are  oranges  and 
other  fruits,  wines  and  brandies,  vegetables  and  grain.  By 
far  the  larger  part  of  these  products  is  transported  by  the 
railways,  the  most  advantageous  and  extensive  markets 
being  found  in  our  own  country.  The  only  shipping  ports 
for  the  part  transported  by  water  along  the  coast  or  to 
foreign  countries  are  the  harbor  of  Wilmington,  situated 
at  the  northwestern  end  of  San  Pedro  bay,  and  the  wharf 
at  Redondo  Beach,  near  the  southern  extremity  of  Santa 
Monica  bay.  The  Southern  Pacific  Company  is  now  con- 
structing an  extensive  wharf  a  short  distance  west  of  Santa 
Monica  canyon. 

A  general  idea  of  the  volume  and  character  of  the  seaport 
business  transacted  at  the  present  time  may  be  formed  from 
the  following  statistics,  which  relate  to  the  year  1891.  The 
number  of  coasting  vessels  which  arrived  during  the  year 
at  Wilmington  was  546,  and  at  Redondo  255,  and  41  vessels, 
entered  from  foreign  ports,  making  a  total  of  842  vessels. 
The  principal  export  was  wheat,  the  value  of  which  was 
about  $40,000.  The  principal  imports  from  foreign  coun- 
tries were  coal,  cement  and  glass,  the  value  of  which  was 
about  $370,000.  The  value  of  the  coal,  most  of  which 
comes  from  Australia,  was  about  $340,000.  The  imports  in 
coasting  vessels  at  Wilmington  were  53,643,060  feet  of 
lumber,  342,525  railway  ties,  and  14,358  tons  of  other 
articles;  and  at  Redondo  20,689,464  feet  of  lumber,  and 
29,179  tons  of  other  articles. 

It  will  appear  from  the  above  that  the  maritime  exports 
of  this  region  are  at  present  insignificant,  and  that  the  im- 


FUTURE  DEEP-SEA  COMMERCE. 


ports  from  foreign  ports,  with  the  exception  of  coal,  are 
of  little  consequence.  The  coastwise  traffic,  consisting  princi- 
pally of  the  importation  of  lumber,  forms  by  far  the  most 
important  part  of  the  seaport  business.  The  existing  har- 
bor facilities  for  the  accommodation  of  this  traffic  consist 
of  the  port  of  Wilmington,  the  improved  channel  of  which 
has  a  minimum  depth  of  about  14  feet  at  mean  low  water, 
and  at  the  port  of  Redondo,  at  whose  wharf,  it  is  stated,  ves- 
sels of  the  largest  draft  can  lie  with  perfect  safety,  except 
for  a  few  days  in  the  year.  The  landing  facilities  will  be 
considered  more  fully  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  report. 
They  are  now  briefly  mentioned  to  show  that  the  present 
demands  of  commerce,  either  for  safety  or  convenience, 
do  not  appear  to  be  such  as  would  justify  the  construction 
of  a  deep-water  harbor  at  great  expense  by  the  general 
government. 

By  far  the  most  important  aspect  of  this  subject,  how- 
ever, is  its  relation  to  the  probable  future  development  of 
the  deep-sea  commerce  of  the  country.  Heretofore  the 
Asiatic  trade  has  naturally  gone  to  San  Francisco,  but  it 
has  been  pointed  out  that  the  construction  of  the  Canadian 
and  Northern  Pacific  railroads  has  introduced  two  com- 
petitors for  the  overland  transportation  of  the  Asiatic  com- 
merce. Two  through  lines,  the  Southern  Pacific  and  the 
Santa  Fe  systems,  cross  the  continent  from  Los  Angeles  at 
much  lower  elevations  than  the  northern  lines,  and  also  con- 
nect the  Pacific  with  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  their  opera- 
tion is  never  obstructed  by  snow  or  ice.  If  a  safe,  access- 
ible and  convenient  harbor  for  deep-draft  vessels  existed  on 
the  southern  coast  these  would  appear  the  most  favorable 
lines  for  the  transportation  of  Asiatic  and  Australian  com- 
merce. 

Should  the  Nicaragua  canal  be  completed  the  importance 
of  the  proposed  harbor  will  become  still  greater.  At  the 
present  time  the  most  convenient  course  for  sailing  vessels 
coming  around  the  Horn  is  to  go  out  into  the  mid-Pacific 
and  strike  the  trade  winds  to  make  the  port  of  San  Fran- 
cisco. With  the  completion  of  the  canal,  commerce  will  be 
principally  transported  by  steam  vessels  of  moderate  draft, 
which  will  move  north  along  the  coast  and  seek  the  nearest 
favorable  and  convenient  port  from  which  their  freight  can 
reach  its  market. 

A  deep-water  harbor  on  the  southern  coast  would  thus 
receive  the  Asiatic  and  Australian  freights  for  shipment 
over  the  most  favorable  transcontinental  lines,  accommo- 


86  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

date  a  large  part  of  the  commerce  passing  through  the 
Nicaragua  canal  which  now  goes  around  the  Horn,  and 
finally  furnish  a  port  of  shipment  and  supply  not  only  for 
the  productive  territory  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  but  also 
for  the  great  interior  plateau  reached  by  the  southern  rail- 
ways beyond  the  mountain  ranges.  Considering,  therefore, 
the  probable  needs  of  commerce  in  the  near  future,  the 
board  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  proposed  deep-water  harbor 
is  of  high  national  importance  and  well  worthy  of  con- 
struction by  the  general  government. 

As  regards  the  naval  necessities  of  the  country,  it  must 
be  remarked  that  the  harbor  of  San  Diego  is  in  location, 
accessibility,  anchorage  area,  and  defensive  capacity  better 
adapted  to  the  pa- poses  of  a  naval  rendezvous  than  any 
artificial  deep-water  harbor  which  can  be  constructed  on  this 
part  of  the  coast.  This  harbor  is  near  the  Mexican  frontier. 
The  entrance  is  easily  approached,  and  there  are  no  outlying 
dangers.  The  minimum  depth  over  the  bar  at  mean  low 
water  is  now  21  feet,  which  is  to  be  increased  to  26  feet 
under  the  adopted  project  for  improvement,  and  the  deep- 
water  anchorage  within  covers  an  area  of  about  933  acres. 
As  already  indicated,  this  harbor  does  not  fully  satisfy  the 
conditions  of  a  great  commercial  port  for  the  service  of 
the  country  northwest  of  it,  owing  to  unfavorable  topo- 
graphical conditions;  but  these  conditions  do  not  affect  its 
supremacy  for  naval  purposes. 

Nevertheless,  Santa  Monica  and  San  Pedro  bays  furnish 
convenient  landing  place  from  which  an  enemy  could  readily 
conduct  hostile  operations  against  Southern  California,  and 
it  is  therefore  of  the  highest  importance  that  the  location  of 
a  harbor  in  this  vicinity  should  be  selected  with  special  ref- 
erence to  its  capacity  for  easy  and  efficient  defense. 

The  conclusions  of  the  board,  with  reference  to  the  rela- 
tions of  the  proposed  deep-water  harbor  to  the  commercial 
and  naval  necessities  of  the  country,  may  be  summarized 
as  follows :  The  present  interests  of  the  coastwise  and  for- 
eign transportation  of  Southern  California  do  not  justify 
the  construction  of  such  a  harbor,  although  they  would 
doubtless  be  benefited  thereby;  but  the  prospective  require- 
ments of  foreign  commerce  amply  warrant  the  government 
in  its  establishment,  even  at  large  expense.  The  location  of 
such  a  harbor  should  be  determined  principally  with  refer- 
ence to  the  convenient  and  ample  accommodation  of  deep- 
draft  vessels  engaged  in  foreign  trade  and  the  requirements 
of  ships  of  war,  the  needs  of  the  coastwise  navigation  and 


THE  PORTS  COMPARED. 


the  cost  of  construction  being  considered  matters  of  sec- 
ondary importance. 

Then  follows  a  detailed  technical  description  of  the  topog- 
raphy of  the  section  and  its  general  meteorological  condi- 
tions. Then  the  board  says : 

It  appears,  then,  that  Santa  Monica  bay  is  entirely  open 
to  the  moderate  down-coast  or  west  winds  which  prevail 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  and  that  it  also  is  ex- 
posed to  the  dangerous  winds  and  seas  which  occur  during 
the  winter  months,  coming  from  the  south  and  southwest. 
The  degree  of  exposure  is,  however,  not  absolutely  equal  in 
all  parts  of  the  bay.  The  easterly  end,  near  Malaga  Cove, 
is  afforded  protection  from  the  winds  and  seas  from  the 
south  by  the  high  land  to  the  southward,  which  also 
affords  partial  protection  from  the  southwest  seas.  Cata- 
lina  island  also  aids  in  some  degree  to  shelter  this  portion 
of  the  bay  from  southerly  seas. 

On  the  other  hand,  Santa  Monica  bay  is  entirely  sheltered 
from  the  southeast  winds  by  the  high  lands  of  San  Pedro 
hill. 

San  Pedro  bay  is  protected  by  the  same  high  land  from 
the  prevailing  down-coast  wind.  In  ordinary  weather  the 
Bay  of  San  Pedro  is  quiet  and  vessels  lie  safely  at  anchor,  and 
for  the  most  part  discharge  cargo  with  lighters  while  the 
wind  prevails.  It  was  doubtless  this  circumstance  which 
made  this  point  the  embarcadero  of  this  part  of  the  coast  for 
the  Mexican  trade  before  California  was  acquired  by  the 
Americans.  In  more  recent  times  the  greater  part  of  the 
commerce  of  this  part  of  the  country  has  also  been  trans- 
acted here.  Formerly  all  the  deep-draft  vessels  from 
Australia  and  Puget  Sound  discharged  cargoes  in  this  bay. 
Recently  one  of  these  ships  discharged  at  the  wharf  at  Re- 
dondo. 

San  Pedro  bay  is  also  protected  to  a  great  extent  from 
the  southwest  sea  and  wind  by  the  island  of  Santa  Catalina, 
which  lies  about  18  miles  off  shore  to  the  windward.  This 
island  is  17^  miles  in  length  and  its  height  of  1,500  to 
2,000  feet  makes  its  shelter,  as  far  as  it  extends,  complete. 
It  covers  48  degrees  of  the  total  arc  of  exposure  from 
southwest  seas,  but  leaves  uncovered  the  angle  between  the 
westerly  end  of  the  island  and  Point  Fermin,  through  which 
interval  the  direct  southwest  swells  reach  the  San  Pedro 
anchorage. 


88  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

San  Pedro  bay  is  also  directly  exposed  to  the  southeast 
seas,  which  approach  through  the  interval  between  Point 
San  Juan  and  the  easterly  end  of  Catalina  island.  While  the 
winds  and  seas  from  the  southeast  are  not  regarded  as  form- 
idable, those  from  points  farther  around  to  the  south,  that 
enter  through  the  open  space  last  referred  to,  are  considered 
to  be  heavier  and  more  violent  than  those  that  approach  the 
anchorage  ground  from  the  westward  of  Catalina. 

The  record  of  vessels  wrecked  at  San  Pedro  shows  that, 
with  one  exception,  the  disasters  occurred  during  the  south- 
erly storms,  the  heavy  sea  coming  to  the  eastward  of  Cata- 
lina island.  The  vessels  were  driven  ashore  on  the  west 
line  of  the  bay.  Among  those  lost  were  the  Nicholas  Bid- 
die,  Callao,  Adelaide  Cooper,  San  Luis  American,  R.  P. 
Buck,  and  the  Kennebec.  The  exception  noted  was  that 
of  the  Amy,  which  was  driven  ashore  at  Point  Fermin 
during  a  northeast  storm  from  the  Santa  Ana  wind  gap. 

The  arc  of  exposure  at  Santa  Monica,  extending  from 
Point  Dume  on  the  west  to  Point  Vincente  on  the  east,  is 

101  degrees,  at  Ballona  104  degrees,  and  at  Redondo  90 
degrees.     Leaving  out  of  consideration  the  last  named  point, 
regarded  as  impracticable  on  account  of  depth,  we  may  call 
the  arc  of  exposure  of  Santa  Monica  Bay   102   degrees. 
From  Point  Fermin  as  a  center,  the  arc  of  exposure  of 
San  Pedro  bay  around  to  the  west  of  Catalina  island  is 
60  degrees.     The  arc  protected  by  the  island  is  48  degrees, 
and  the  arc  included  between  the  easterly  end  of  the  island 
and  Point  Loma  is  42  degrees,  making  the  total  exposure  of 
San  Pedro  bay  to  southeast  and  southwest  winds  and  seas 

1 02  degrees.     The  aggregate  angle  of  exposure  of  the  two 
bays  is  therefore  the  same. 

A  memorandum  kindly  furnished  by  Prof.  Geo.  Davidson, 
of  the  U.  S.  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  a  disinterested  and 
able  observer,  to  whose  opinions  the  board  attaches  the 
highest  value,  contains  the  following  interesting  informa- 
tion with  reference  to  storms  and  exposure  along  this  part 
of  the  coast:  In  the  southeasters  the  swell  of  the  Pacific 
comes  from  the  southwest,  and  along  the  greater  part  of 
the  coast  of  California  breaks  squarely  upon  the  shore, 
reaching  from  profound  depths  at  a  very  short  distance  from 
the  land.  The  only  fairly  protected  part  of  the  coast  is 
that  from  Point  Concepcion  eastward  and  southward  to  be- 
tween San  Pedro  and  San  Diego.  The  winter  storms  of 


LOCATION  OF  BREAKWATERS. 


89 


this  coast  have,  however,  a  marked  peculiarity;  the  gales 
increase  in  violence  as  we  proceed  to  the  north.  In  the  low 
latitude  of  Santa  Monica  and  San  Pedro  bays  the  winter 
storms  are  comparatively  moderate,  and  the  great  islands 
of  Santa  Barbara  form  barriers  against  the  full  force  of  the 
winter  swell.  A  strong  evidence  of  the  weakness  of  the 
destructive  action  of  the  southeast  storms  is  seen  in  the 
very  slow  wearing  away  of  the  sandy  cliffs,  and  of  the 
bluffs  at  San  Pedro;  nor  could  the  exposed  wharves  be 
maintained  in  this  region  if  the  destructive  action  of  the 
storms  were  great. 

In  order  to  effect  a  satisfactory  comparison,  it  became 
necessary  for  the  board  to  select  the  exact  location  for  a 
breakwater  in  each  of  the  sites  that  were  considered,  and 
this  discussion,  which  is  entirely  technical  in  its  character, 
occupies  several  pages  of  the  report. 

After  considering  the  idea  of  a  floating  breakwater  the 
board  dismisses  Redondo  with  this  paragraph: 

The  board  is  of  the  opinion  that  it  would  not  be  ad- 
visable for  the  government  to  undertake  the  costly  and 
doubtful  experiment  of  establishing  a  floating  breakwater 
at  Redondo,  especially  as  such  a  shelter  is  not  needed  for 
the  protection  of  life  or  property,  but  merely  for  the  oc- 
casional convenience  of  navigation. 

In  concluding  its  discussion  of  the  subject  of  breakwater 
sites,  the  board  says : 

For  the  purpose  of  comparison,  the  board  adopts  the 
breakwater  locations  indicated  by  the  Board  of  Engineers, 
of  1890,  opposite  Santa  Monica  village,  and  by  the  chief 
engineer  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Company,  above  Santa 
Monica  canyon,  as  they  are  considered  as  favorable  as  any 
sites  in  these  localities. 

As  before  remarked,  the  project  of  the  board  of  1890  for 
the  formation  of  a  harbor  at  San  Pedro  proposes  the  con- 
struction of  two  breakwaters  covering  an  area  east  of  Point 
Fermin  from  the  southeast  and  southwest  seas.  An  opening 
of  1,500  feet  is  left  between  them  to  afford  an  entrance  to 
the  harbor  from  the  westward  and  to  provide  for  the  cir- 
culation of  the  littoral  currents. 

This  plan  is  shown  to  be  open  to  serious  objections, 
and  the  board  recommends  a  different  one: 


90  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

The  board  recommends  a  single,  curved  breakwater,  ex- 
tending- southward  and  eastward  from  Point  Fermin,  sub- 
stantially as  shown  on  the  accompanying  drawings,  sub- 
ject to  such  modifications  in  detail,  as  experience  during  the 
progress  of  the  work  may  show  to  be  necessary  or  ex- 
pedient. Such  a  breakwater  will  present  no  salient  angles 
to  the  attacks  of  the  sea,  no  re-entrant  angles  to  compress  the 
moving  wave,  and  it  can  be  extended  eastward  should  t:  . 
necessities  of  commerce  require  it.  Its  length  is  8,200  feet, 
being  200  feet  more  than  the  aggregate  length  of  the  two 
breakwaters  proposed  by  the  board  of  1890.  Should 
further  investigation  demonstrate  the  desirability  of  a  west- 
ern opening,  a  result  which  the  board  does  not  anticipate, 
the  plan  can  be  modified  accordingly. 

Then  begins  the  comparison  of  the  various  locations : 

As  a  basis  for  the  comparison  of  the  relative  advan- 
tages of  the  locations  proposed  in  Santa  Monica  and  San 
Pedro  bays,  the  board  invites  attention  to  the  following 
propositions,  which  were  briefly  referred  to  in  the  begin- 
ning of  this  report : 

The  harbor  to  be  formed  is  not  primarily  a  harbor  of 
refuge,  but  a  port  of  commerce.  It  should  be  located  and 
designed  with  special  reference  to  the  requirements  of  deep- 
draft  vessels  engaged  in  foreign  trade,  because  this  trade 
promises  to  be  of  the  greatest  national  importance  in 
the  future,  and  because  such  vessels,  after  long 
voyages  especially,  need  convenient  and  commodious 
places  for  refitting  and  supply.  The  accommodation 
of  the  coasting  trade  is  of  secondary  importance,  but 
it  should  receive  due  consideration.  From  a  national  point 
of  view  the  capacity  of  the  harbor  for  defense  is  a  matter 
of  the  highest  moment,  since  an  indefensible  commercial  port 
is  simply  an  invitation  to  attack  in  time  of  war.  We  have 
now  too  many  such  ports,  and  it  is  not  desirable  to  increase 
the  number.  Finally,  the  relative  cost  of  harbor  construc- 
tion and  maintenance  should  be  considered. 

The  questions,  therefore,  which  require  examination  are 
as  follows : 

First — The  comparative  advantages  of  each  location  as 
a  point  of  arriving  and  departure,  especially  for  deep-draft 
vessels  engaged  in  the  foreign  trade. 

Under  this  head  we  must  consider  the  character  of  the 
approaches  from  the  sea  as  regards  facility  of  navigation 


BASIS  OF  COMPARISON.  91 

with  the  prevailing  winds,  the  safety  from  hidden  danger, 
and  the  distance  from  commercial  ports. 

Second — The  comparative  advantages  of  each  location  as 
a  place  of  shelter  and  for  receiving  and  discharging  freight. 

Under  this  head  we  must  consider  the  extent  of  anchor- 
age area  and  its  exposure  to  wind  and  sea;  the  extent  and 
^helter  of  frontage  for  landing  facilities;  the  capacity  of 
the  harbor  for  extension  when  required  by  the  future  de- 
mands of  commerce;  and  the  character  of  the  holding 
ground. 

Third — The  comparative  advantages  of  each  location  for 
land  communication  with  the  commercial  center. 

Under  this  head  we  must  consider  the  number  of  rail- 
road lines,  the  distance  by  rail,  and  the  grades  and  curves 
on  each  line. 

Fourth — The  comparative  adaptability  of  each  location 
for  harbor  construction  and  maintenance. 

Under  this  head  we  must  consider  the  amount  of  natural 
shelter  afforded  by  the  position;  the  suitability  of  the  foun- 
dation for  the  breakwater;  the  comparative  facility  and 
cost  of  construction;  the  exposure  to  injuries  requiring  re- 
pair, and  the  probable  permanence  of  the  harbor  as  regards 
shoaling. 

Fifth — The  relative  capacity  of  each  location  for  defense. 

On  the  first  point,  that  of  the  comparative  advantages 
for  arrival  and  departure,  the  board  holds  that  there  is  no  es- 
sential difference  between  the  locations  of  San  Pedro  and 
Santa  Monica. 

On  the  subject  of  the  advantages  for  shelter  and  for  hand- 
ling freight,  the  board  says : 

For  the  purposes  of  comparison,  the  anchorage  areas  for 
the  Santa  Monica  harbors  are  assumed  to  be  areas  included 
within  the  breakwaters,  the  lines  drawn  through  their  ends 
normal  to  the  shore,  and  .the  6-foot  contour;  and  for  the 
San  Pedro  Harbor  the  area  included  between  the  break- 
water, the  line  drawn  from  the  end  of  the  breakwater  to 
Deadman's  Island,  and  the  6-foot  contour.  The  deep-water 
anchorage  is  assumed  to  be  an  area  over  which  there  is  a 
depth  of  at  least  30  feet;  the  remaining  area  will  be  referred 
to  as  the  inner  anchorage. 

The  total  anchorage  area  at  the  San  Pedro  harbor  is  1187 
acres.  This  includes  the  area  in  Wilmington  Harbor.  The 
deep-water  area  is  339  acres  and  the  inner  anchorage  area 


92  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

846  acres.  The  harbor  at  Santa  Monica  village  has  a  total 
anchorage  of  1078  acres.  The  deep-water  area  is  602  acres 
and  the  inner  anchorage  476  acres.  The  harbor  above 
Santa  Monica  canyon  has  a  total  anchorage  area  of  994 
acres.  The  deep-water  area  is  479  acres  and  the  inner  an- 
chorage 515  acres.  In  the  Santa  Monica  harbors  the  inner 
anchorage  will  be  very  much  diminished  by  the  wharves, 
which  must  extend  completely  across  it  to  reach  deep  water. 
This  is  not  the  case  to  the  same  extent  in  the  San  Pedro 
Harbor. 

To  compare  the  exposures,  it  is  assumed  that  so  much  of 
the  anchorage  area  as  lies  north  of  southeast  and  southwest 
lines  drawn  through  the  ends  of  the  breakwaters  is  not  fully 
covered  by  the  heavy  swells.  The  harbor  at  San  Pedro  has 
a  protected  area  of  852  acres  and  an  unprotected  area  of  335 
acres.  The  harbor  at  Santa  Monica  village  has  a  protected 
area  of  209  acres  and  an  unprotected  area  of  869  acres. 
The  harbor  above  Santa  Monica  canyon  has  a  protected 
area  of  221  acres  and  an  unprotected  area  of  773  acres. 

The  harbor  above  Santa  Monica  canyon,  within  the  an- 
chorage limits  assumed,  has  a  land  frontage  8,000  feet  in 
length,  available  for  the  construction  of  wharves.  The  har- 
bor at  Santa  Monica  village  has  a  similar  land  frontage 
8,000  feet  in  length.  In  the  harbor  first  mentioned,  how- 
ever, the  land  approach  to  the  wharves  is  narrow,  and  not 
capable  of  extension  except  at  great  expense,  and  there  is  no 
available  place  for  the  construction  of  interior  basins.  The 
conformation  of  the  ground  is  such  that  free  access  to  the 
landing  facilities  of  the  harbor  would  not  be  easily  attainable 
by  all  parties  engaged  in  the  business  of  land  transportation. 

At  Santa  Monica  village,  on  the  other  hand,  the  ap- 
proaches from  the  land  are  more  open,  and  at  La  Ballona  an 
interior  basin  could  be  readily  formed.  At  San  Pedro 
there  is  a  land  frontage  of  4,300  feet  in  the  outer  harbor 
without  including  the  inner  line  of  the  breakwater.  Since 
the  breakwater  is  connected  with  the  shore,  a  railway  can  be 
constructed  along  it,  and  wharves  can  be  readily  projected 
from  its  inner  face.  This  advantage  would  be  sacrificed 
if  a  western  entrance  were  established.  This  gives  for  the 
puter  harbor  an  additional  frontage  of  8,000  feet  and  a  total 
frontage  of  12,300  feet.  The  frontage  of  the  inner  harbor 
is  about  4  miles  long.  The  total  frontage  for  the 
whole,  harbor  is  therefore  33,420  feet,  or  about  61-3  miles. 
The  approaches  are  good,  as  they  include  both  sides  of  the 


ADVANTAGES  OF  SAN  PEDRO.  93 

harbor,   and  Wilmington  harbor  forms  a  magnificent  in- 
terior basin. 

In  every  harbor  a  portion  of  the  area  must  be  more  or  less 
exposed,  owing  to  the  necessity  of  providing  convenient 
communication  with  the  sea.  In  a  port  of  commerce  it  is  of 
great  importance  that  the  harbor  should.be  so  located  and 
designed  that  the  landing  facilities  should  be  established  in 
the  most  sheltered  part.  In  the  Santa  Monica  harbors  this 
imperative  condition  is  entirely  neglected,  the  landing  facil- 
ities being  necessarily  situated  entirely  within  the  exposed 
area.  As  a  consequence  of  this,  the  wharves  will  not  be 
well  protected  during  storms,  and  small  vessels  will  crowd 
the  quiet  spaces  of  the  deep-water  anchorage.  At  San 
Pedro  harbor  the  landing  facilities  are  situated  within  the 
unexposed  area,  and  small  vessels  will  find  their  best  shel- 
ter in  bad  weather  within  the  inner  harbor. 

The  deep  water  anchorage  area  is  amply  sufficient  in  all  the 
harbors  and  can  in  all  be  readily  extended  in  the  future. 
In  the  San  Pedro  harbor  the  landing  facilities  can  be 
greatly  extended  within  the  inner  harbor  without  any  addi- 
tion to  the  outer  breakwater.  This  is  not  the  case  in  the 
Santa  Monica  harbors. 

In  all  the  harbors  the  holding  ground  is  good.  Some 
doubts  have  been  expressed  with  regard  to  the  character  of 
the  holding  ground  at  San  Pedro,  but  after  diligent  in- 
quiry the  board  is  satisfied  that  it  is  as  good  in  this  location 
as  in  the  others. 

The  board  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  location  at  San  Pedro 
is  decidedly  the  best,  considered  as  a  place  of  shelter  and 
for  receiving  and  discharging  freight. 

The  question  of  the  distance  from  Los  Angeles  is  declared 
to  be  unimportant,  by  reason  of  the  insignificant  difference 
between  the  two  locations. 

On  the  question  of  construction,  the  board  after  discus- 
sing it  in  all  its  details,  holds  that : 

The  amount  of  stone  required  for  the  construction  of  the 
breakwater  proposed  for  San  Pedro  would  be  much  less 
than  for  either  of  the  breakwaters  proposed  for  Santa  Mon- 
ica bay,  the  area  of  the  profile  along  the  axis  of  the  break- 
water at  San  Pedro  being  322,000  square  feet  and  at  Santa 
Monica  canyon  351,700  square  feet. 

The  latter  breakwater  has  less  volume  than  the  one  at 
Santa  Monica  village. 


94 


THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 


In  concluding  the  topic,  the  board  says : 

In  connection  with  this  question  of  the  relative  cost  of 
maintenance,  it  should  be  remarked  that  the  harbor  at  Wil- 
mington has  been  established  for  many  years  and  improved 
at  great  expense  by  the  government.  It  will  not,  in  any 
event,  be  abandoned.  If,  then,  another  harbor  is  con- 
structed in  this  vicinity,  the  government  will  be  compelled 
to  light,  defend,  improve,  and  maintain  two  harbors  where 
one  would  answer  the  purpose. 

The  board  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  location  at  San  Pedro 
is  decidedly  the  best  as  regards  adaptability  for  construction 
and  maintenance. 

The  report  does  not  go.  into  details  on  the  subject  of  de- 
fense, but  merely  declares  that  "after  careful  consideration, 
it  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  location  at  San  Pedro  is  best 
and  cheapest  as  regards  capacity  for  defense." 

It  finally  sums  up  the  case  in  these  words : 

Having  made  a  careful  and  critical  examination  for  a  pro- 
posed deep-water  harbor  at  San  Pedro  or  Santa  Monica 
bays,  as  required  by  law,  the  board  is  unanimously  of  opin- 
ion that  the  location  selected  by  the  Board  of  Engineers  of 
1890,  at  the  present  anchorage  at  the  westerly  side  of  San 
Pedro  bay  under  Point  Fermin,  is  the  "more  eligible  loca- 
tion for  such  harbor  in  depth,  width,  and  capacity  to  accom- 
modate the  largest  ocean-going  vessels  and  the  commercial 
and  naval  necessities  of  the  country." 

The  board's  estimate  of  the  cost  of  constructing  the  San 
Pedro  breakwater  was  as  follows : 

Substructure— 1,434,612  cubic  yards,  at  $1.50 $2,151,918 

Superstructure— 178,530  cubic  yards,  at  $2 357, 060 

Contingencies,  15  percent .' 376,346 

Total $2,885,324 


U>NG  BEACH  ON  SAN  PEDRO  BAY. 


CHAPTER    X. 
A  DECISION  THAT  DID  NOT  DECIDE. 

THE  report  of  the  Craig-hill  Board  was  published  in  Los 
Angeles  just  before  the  beginning  of  1893,  and  for  a 
brief  time  it  stopped  all  discussion  of  the  subject  of  the  har- 
bor location.  The  Santa  Monica  people  declared  that  a  mis- 
take had  been  made  and  that  the  government  would  some 
day  rue  it, but  the  mischief  was  done  and  could  not  be  helped; 


CHARLES  FORMAN. 

the  Redondo  people  said  that  they  would  abide  by  the  de- 
cision, and  would  join  with  Los  Angeles  to  present  a  united 
front  for  San  Pedro;  the  Southern  Pacific  people  said 
nothing. 

The  Los  Angeles  Chamber,  believing  that  the  time  for 
neutrality  was  now  at  an  end,  on  January  I7th  appointed 
Gen.  Chas.  Forman,  as  special  delegate  to  Washington.  He 


96  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

proceeded  immediately  to  the  capital,  accompanied  by  Mr. 
Gibbon.  In  order  to  show  that  the  sentiment  of  the  south- 
western community  was  generally  in  favor  of  the  develop- 
ment of  a  deep-sea  harbor  near  Los  Angeles,  in  accordance 
with  the  plan  of  the  engineers,  the  delegates  were  armed  with 
numerous  petitions  of  business  men  of  all  sections  of  South- 
ern California,  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  and  with  resolu- 
tions from  the  Redlands  and  Riverside  town  trustees,  from 
the  Boards  of  Trade  of  Pasadena,  Pomona  and  San  Pedro, 
from  the  Supervisors  of  San  Bernardino  County  and  from 
the  State  Board  of  Trade.  They  were  followed  presently 
by  joint  resolutions  from  the  California  Legislature,  from 
the  Galveston  Chamber  of  Commerce,*  and  from  various 
commercial  organizations  in  the  Southwestern  Territories. 
There  was  no  regular  River  and  Harbor  bill  this  year,  it 
being  the  short  session,  and  the  Chamber's  representatives 
were  assured  that  there  was  no  hope  of  an  appropriation  for 
San  Pedro.  Nevertheless  they  proceeded  to  make  the  most 
of  their  opportunity  to  accomplish  some  missionary  work. 
Senator  Felton  introduced  a  bill  for  a  direct  appropriation 
of  $250,000,  to  begin  work  at  San  Pedro  in  accordance  with 
the  project  outlined  by  the  Craighill  Board,  but  the  measure 
never  made  its  way  out  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Com- 
merce, of  which  Mr.  Frye  was  the  chairman.  Gen.  For- 
man  and  Mr.  Gibbon  were  given  a  hearing  before  this  com- 
mittee. In  his  report  to  the  chamber,  filed  March  10, 
1893,  Gen.  Forman  says  relative  to  this  hearing:  "As  to 
the  question  of  location,  I  explained  that,  to  the  people  of  the 
Southwest  generally,  it  had  heretofore  been  a  matter  of  no 
consequence  where  the  harbor  was  built,  whether  at  Santa 
Monica,  Redondo  or  San  Pedro — their  desire  being  that 
it  should  be  built  somewhere,  as  soon  as  possible.  The 
general  government  having  now  given  the  matter  a  thorough 
investigation,  through  two  separate  boards  of  engineers, 
who  had  reported  unanimously  in  favor  of  San  Pedro  as  the 
most  available  point  at  which  to  locate  the  harbor,  there  was 
no  longer  any  opportunity  for  choice  left  to  our  people,  and 


*  Agitation  was  in  progress  at  this  time  to  secure  an  appropriation  of 
about  four  million  dollars  to  construct  a  deep-water  harbor  at  Galveston 
— an  improvement  which  is  now  well  under  way. 


GENERAL  FORM  AN 'S  REPORT.  97 

for  that  reason  we  had  all  combined  to  urge  the  claims  of 
the  selected  port." 

Senator  John  P.  Jones  of  Nevada,  whose  real  and  un- 
official home  is  in  Santa  Monica,  was  a  member  of  the  Sen- 
ate Committee  on  Commerce,  and  he  is  the  owner  of  a  great 
deal  of  land  along  the  water  front  of  that  city  and  about 
Port  Los  Angeles,  the  location  of  the  wharf.  His  vote  and 
influence  were  always  thrown  in  favor  of  the  Santa  Monica 
harbor  site.  He  asked  Senator  Frye  that  the  matter  of  an 
appropriation  for  harbor  improvement  near  Los  Angeles 
should  not  be  considered  in  his  absence  from  Washington, 
and  this,  through  the  operation  of  "Senatorial  courtesy," 
prevented  any  action  in  the  winter  of  1893.  The  statement 
which  was  offered  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  that  no  ap- 
propriations for  river  and  harbor  purposes,  except  those  of 
a  most  urgent  character,  were  to  be  made,  was  scarcely 
borne  out  by  the  record,  which  shows  that  over  $22,000,000 
was  appropriated  that  year,  although  $40,000,000  of  con- 
tinuing contracts  were  outstanding.  But  San  Pedro  was 
not  seriously  considered  by  the  committee. 

In  concluding  his  report  to  the  chamber,  Gen.  Forman  in- 
veighs strongly  against  any  reopening  of  the  location  issue, 
which  will,  he  says,  have  the  effect  of  upsetting  the  good 
work  done  thus  far.  "Such  a  thing/'  he  says,  "as  Congress 
appropriating  money  for  the  construction  of  works  contrary 
to  the  advice  of  its  engineers,  would  be  against  all  prece- 
dents and  in  the  highest  degree  improbable.  As  the  case 
now  stands  with  the  nation's  representatives  at  Washington, 
it  is  San  Pedro  or  nothing.  Agitation  in  favor  of  any  other 
point  would  merely  result  in  postponing  indefinitely  any  im- 
provement whatever." 

These  expressions  were  evidently  called  forth  by  the  fact 
that  attempts  were  even  then  under  way  to  take  up  anew 
the  question  of  where  the  harbor  should  be  situated,  in 
spite  of  the  "once  for  all"  settlement  by  the  Craighill  Board. 
Such  was  indeed  the  case.  The  work  on  the  long  wharf  at 
Santa  Monica  was  being  pushed  with  vigor,  and  it  began  to 
dawn  on  the  merchants  of  Los  Angeles  that  the  Southern 
Pacific  was  undertaking  a  great  plan  there,  which  would 
have  a  decided  bearing  on  the  future  commerce  of  the  sec- 
tion. Freight  coming  to  Los  Angeles  from  San  Francisco 


98  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

saved  half  a  day's  time  coming  by  Santa  Monica,  as  against 
San  Pedro,  and  the  new  wharf  was  a  convenient  and  valua- 
ble improvement.  The  members  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce were  invited  from  time  to  time  by  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific to  go  down  and  visit  the  work,  and  a  free  train  was  pro- 
vided for  that  purpose.  On  such  occasions,  the  representa- 
tives of  the  road  and  the  Santa  Monica  people  and  others 
expressed  great  regret  that  the  government  had  decided  in 
favor  of  San  Pedro,  a  place  which  would  be  of  no  practical 
use  for  the  commerce  of  Los  Angeles,  instead  of  Port  Los 
Angeles,  the  natural  location. 

1  In  February  of  1893,  at  tne  very  ^me  that  Gen.  For- 
man  was  wrestling  with  the  Commerce  Committee  of  the 
Senate,  the  annual  banquet  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
was  held  at  Redondo,  at  which  the  topic  of  the  wharf  was 
discussed,  and  the  policy  of  the  Southern  Pacific  fore- 
shadowed to  some  extent  by  one  of  its  officers. 

At  this  banquet' Mr.  H.  E.  Huntington,  who  is  the  nephew 
of  Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington,  and  who  was  at  that  time  the 
acting  president  of  the  road,  was  asked  to  respond  to  the 
toast,  "The  Commerce  of  the  Pacific,"  and  it  was  inti- 
mated to  him  by  the  committee  that  they  would  be  glad 
if  he  would  tell  something  of  the  plans  of  the  road  with 
regard  to  the  new  wharf.  Mr.  Huntington  was  ill  and 
unable  to  be  present,  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Mills,  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent  of  the  company,  and  one  of  its  directors,  was  asked 
to  speak  on  that  topic  in  his  place.  Mr.  Mills  is  one  of 
the  best  speakers  in  California,  eloquent,  witty  and  pro- 
found, and  he  possesses  to  a  remarkable  degree  the 'faculty 
of  making  the  dry  topic  of  commerce,  on  which  he  is  fre- 
quently called  to -speak,  one  of  vivid  interest. 

After  explaining  the  absence  of  Mr.  Huntington,  which 
was  due  to  illness,  Mr.  Mills  said : 

Mr.  Huntington  instructed  me  to  say  to  you  that  whatever 
plans  you  may  have  for  the  commercial  and  industrial  de- 
velopment of  this  part  of  the  State,  you  have  the  hearty 
sympathy  and  shall  have  the  co-operation  of  the  Southern 
Pacific  Company.  However,  regarding  this  wharf  and 
other  improvements  to  which  reference  has  been  made, !  I 
must  tell  you  that  I  am  not  authorized  by  Mr.  Huntington 
to  disclose  any  of  the  secrets  of  the  company. 


MR.  MILLS'  SUGGESTION.  99 

As  an  industrial  student  of  this  State,  I  have  always 
observed  that  the  shortest  line  of  connection  between  tide 
water  on  the  Atlantic  and  tide  water  on  the  Pacific  was 
at  some  point  near  Los  Angeles.  We  know,  now  that 
railway  communication  has  been  established,  that  the 
nearest  line  is  between  Los  Angeles  and  Galveston.  But 
commerce  will  not  go  to  Galveston,  because  it  is  a  law 
of  railroad  transportation  that  every  thing  must  reach  its 
terminal.  When  a  car  is  loaded  and  sent  on  its  journey,  it 
must  go  to  its  terminal  point  for  its  return  freight;  and 
therefore,  New  Orleans,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  the  Queen  City  of  the  South,  will  be  the  Atlantic 
seaport,  which  will  have  for  its  western  terminus  Santa 
Monica. 

I  wish  to  say  that  I  had  no  desire  to  broach  this  subject  at 
this  time,  and  I  do  not  speak  of  it  to  raise  any  local  question 
as  between  San  Pedro,  Santa  Monica  and  Redondo  or  any 
other  of  the  local  seaports.  There  will  come  a  time  when 
all  these  questions  will  be  forgotten.  California  is  a  new 
country,  and  we  have  more  or  less  contention  in  the  early 
stages  of  our  development.  But  somewhere  on  your  bor- 
ders there  is  to  be  a  harbor,  and  as  I  am  asked  a  question  re- 
garding Santa  Monica,  and  the  intentions  of  our  people, 
to  be  frank  with  you  I  will  say  that  their  intentions  seem 
to  me  to  be  entirely  apparent.  They  are  making  a  wharf 
there  for  deep-water  vessels.  They  must  intend  to  land 
at  the  wharf  with  deep-water  vessels. 

These  pointed  allusions  to  Santa  Monica,  as  the  natural 
harbor  for  trans-Pacific  commerce,  did  riot  pass  unnoticed, 
and  it  was  only  a  short  time  after  this  that  the  Los  Angeles 
Times,  a  Republican  morning  paper  of  general  circulation 
throughout  Southern  California,  raised  the  question  editor- 
ially whether  the  Southern  Pacific  people  proposed  to  abide 
by  the  decision  of  the  engineering  authorities,  whom  they 
had  invoked,  of  their  own  desire,  to  render  a  final  judg- 
ment. The  Times  had  never  been  regarded  as  an  anti- 
corporation  or  anti-Southern  Pacific  newspaper.  Its  ed- 
itor and  chief  proprietor,  Colonel  Harrison  Gray  Otis,* 
is  decidedly  conservative  in  his  point  of  view,  and  what- 
ever else  may  be  said  of  him,  he  certainly  possesses 

*  His  present  title  is  Brigadier  General  Otis,  which  was  bestowed  on 
him  during  the  late  Spanish  war.  During  the  period  of  this  history, 
however,  he  was  "  Colonel"  Otis  and  he  will  be  so  Styled. 


ioo  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

none  of  the  "sand  lot,"  radical  element  in  his  make-up,. 
His  efforts  to  place  the  employees  of  his  establishment  on 
a  non-union  basis  had  involved  him  in  a  serious  conflict 
with  labor  organizations,  which  was  raging  with  great  fierce- 
ness at  this  particular  time;  and  the  agitators  and  walking 
delegates,  who  were,  to  a  considerable  extent,  the  active  spirits 
of  the  anti-railway  propaganda,  were  proclaiming  against 
Col.  Otis  and  his  paper  all  over  the  State.  There  was  reason 
enough  why  he  should  prefer  an  alliance  with  the  railroad 


BRIG.  GEN.  H.  G.  OTIS. 


rather  than  opposition  to  it,  had  that  been  possible.  The  fact 
that  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  see  into  and  through  the  rail- 
road plan,  and  that  he  threw  the  influence  of  the  Times  with 
all  the  force  at  its  command  into  the  anti-railroad  side  of  the 
fight,  is  evidence  at  once  of  his  discernment  and  his  sincerity. 
The  opening  gun  of  the  Times'  battery  was  an  editorial 
appearing  in  the  spring  of  1893,  which  was  the  handiwork 
of  W.  A.  Spalding,  the  present  managing  editor  of  the  Los 
Angeles  Herald,  at  that  time  an  editorial  writer  on  and  a 
stockholder  in  the  Times.  In  this  article  the  lines  of  policy 
for  the  paper  were  very  clearly  drawn,  and  they  were  con- 
sistently adhered  to  through  the  five  years  of  conflict  that 


THE  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  "TIMES.'  ,  101 

followed,  in  all  the  curves  and  sinuosities  and  twistings  and 
changes  of  front  that  such  a  fight  could  present.  The  re- 
cent Board  of  Engineers,  said  the  article,  in  substance,  have 
settled  upon  San  Pedro  as  the  location  for  the  harbor,  con- 
firming the  judgment  of  the  former  board.  We  have  thus 
a  unanimous  decision  from  eight  distinguished  authorities, 
based  on  technical  grounds,  in  favor  of  that  site.  It  is  the 
invariable  custom  of  Congress  to  grant  appropriations  in  ac- 


W.  A.  SPAI.DING. 


cordance  with  the  findings  of  its  own  engineers.  It  is 
therefore  idle  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  possibility  of 
securing  help  for  another  site  than  San  Pedro.  The  South- 
ern Pacific  people  are  disposed  to  favor  Port  Los  Angeles, 
where  they  are  constructing  a  wharf.  Their  enterprise  in 
developing  commerce  through  a  new  port  is  commendable 
and  will  elicit  such  patronage  as  it  merits ;  but  that  is  not  the 
real  point  at  issue.  The  influence  of  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific at  Washington  may  be  great  —  perhaps  greater 
than  it  should  be  —  but  it  cannot  reach  to  the  ex- 
tent of  upsetting  all  the  established  precedents  that  govern 


102  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

harbor  appropriations,  and  even  if  it  were  so  powerful,  it 
would  still  be  the  plain  duty  of  the  people  of  this  section 
and  their  representatives  to  oppose  a  scheme  to  use  govern- 
ment funds  against  the  advice  of  its  technical  authorities,  for 
the  special  use  and  benefit  of  a  single  corporation. 

It  would  perhaps  scarcely  do  justice  to  the  Times  and  its 
influence  in  the  harbor  contest  merely  to  say  that  the  vic- 
tory for  the  people's  choice  could  not  have  been  won  with- 
out it,  for  the  same  may  be  said  of  several  other  agencies 
and  individuals,  and  the  fight  was  full  of  critical  turnings, 
where  if  some  one  had  neglected  to  do  just  the  right  thing 
at  the  right  time,  failure  must  have  resulted.     No  news- 
paper can  be  said  to  control  public  opinion,  but  a  journal 
whose  circulation  permeates  every  class  of  society,  which 
is  edited  with  honest  purpose  and  good  ability,  and  which 
persistently  maintains  a  policy  in  favor  of  an  object  which 
the  best  impulses  of  men  feel  to  be  right — even  if  it  is  for 
the  moment  unpopular — can  exercise  an  influence  so  power- 
ful as  to  be  almost  dominating.     These  various  qualifica- 
ions  the  Times  possessed.     While  it  is  not  free  from  faults, 
and  is,  indeed,  greatly  criticized — as  every  powerful  news- 
paper must  be — for  certain  characteristics  that  it  possesses, 
no  one  will  deny  that  it  is  a  first-class  purveyor  of  news  and 
that  it  is  managed  with  ability  and — taking  a  long  range 
view  of  it — -with  good  judgment.     Being  human,   it  has 
made  mistakes,  without  doubt,  but  its  record  in  that  respect 
is  unusually  clear.     While  its  circulation  is  small  compared 
with  that  of  the  great  newspapers  of  the  great  cities,  it  is 
large  compared  with  the  circulations  that  prevail  on  the 
Pacific  coast,  and  extraordinary  when  the  population  of  its 
tributary  district  is  reckoned.     In  one  respect  it  is  to  be 
classed  with  papers  like  the  Louisville  Courier- Journal,  the 
old  New  York  Tribune  and  Sun,  the  Chicago  Tribune,  the 
St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat  and  the  Cincinnati  Commercial; 
it  is  an  organ  of  direct  individual,  personal  influence.     The 
Times  is  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  and  conversely  it  may  be 
stated — and  it  forms  a  handsome  object  lesson  of  success — 
that  for  a  long  period  of  years  Harrison  Gray  Otis  was  the 
Times  and  nothing  but  the  Times. 

But  if  the  power  and  influence  of  this  newspaper  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  the  winning  of  the  people's  victory 


COURAGE  AND  FORESIGHT.  103 

in  the  harbor  controversy,  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that  the 
controversy  itself  formed  one  of  the  chief  corner-stones  of 
the  Times'  great  financial  and  journalistic  success.  Before 
the  fight  began,  the  circulation  of  the  Times  was  but  little,  if 
any,  more  than  that  of  any  one  of  the  three  other  com- 
petitors with  which  it  shared  the  daily  field  in  Los  An- 
geles. During  the  critical  phases  of  the  contest,  subscrib- 
ers flocked  to  it  by  the  score  and  the  hundred.  At  the  close 
of  the  era  with  which  this  book  has  to  deal,  its  circulation 
was  more  than  that  of  all  its  competitors  gathered  together. 
And  its  clientele  is  not  of  the  ephemeral  order  that  may  be 
hastily  rolled  up  by  the  cheap  sensationalism  of  the  moment, 
but  it  is  a  patronage  that  is  based  for  the  most  part  on  re- 
spect for  its  abilities  and  confidence  in  its  sincerity.  The 
Times  subscriber,  while  he  may  speak  with  regret  of  certain 
faults  that  he  finds  in  it,  will,  if  he  is  a  resident  of  Los  An- 
geles of  ten  years'  standing,  always  close  with  the  remark, 
"But  it  made  a  magnificent  fight  for  the  harbor." 

It  is  always  an  open  question  how  much  credit  a  news- 
paper deserves  for  the  espousal  of  a  popular  cause,  as 
against  one  to  which  the  people  are  unfriendly;  and  if  that 
were  all  there  was  to  the  Times'  support  of  San  Pedro,  it 
might  be  dismissed  with  a  word.  But  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  the  Times  alone,  of  all  the  newspapers  of  Los  An- 
geles, saw  fit  to  take  that  side  of  the  controversy;  and  there 
were  powerful  business  influences,  of  the  order  by  which 
newspapers  are  commonly  swayed,  that  pulled  in  the  oppo- 
site direction.  Nor  was  it  evident  at  the  outset  which  was 
to  be  the  popular  side;  and  there  occurred  various  crises  in 
the  midst  of  the  contest  when  the  pendulum  of  popular 
favor  swung  far  to  the  other  pole,  and  the  very  foundation 
seemed  about  to  drop  out  from  under  the  Free  Harbor  cause. 
For  its  courage  and  its  firmness  and  consistency  at  such  mo- 
ments, the  Times  is  entitled  to  credit  and  admiration;  and 
for  this  it  will  receive  praise,  even  from  those  who  fail  to 
approve  its  course  in  other  respects. 

The  election  of  the  fall  cf  1892  had  an  important  bear- 
ing on  the  harbor  issue.  The  effect  of  the  general  land- 
slide in  the  direction  of  Democracy  was  felt  even  as  far 
west  as  California,  which  gave  its  electoral  vote  to  Mr. 
Cleveland,  and  sent  several  Democratic  or  Fusion  Congress- 


104  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

men  to  Washington  from  the  State,  and  elected  a  Demo- 
cratic Legislature.  In  the  Sixth  Congressional  district, 
which  at  that  time  included  all  the  Southern  and  Central 
section  of  the  State,  Hervey  Lindley,  a  Republican  of 
Los  Angeles,  was  defeated  by  Marion  Cannon,  a  Populist 
of  Ventura,  the  latter  receiving  the  Democratic  vote  and 
also  the  votes  of  many  Republicans  who  considered  that 
Mr.  Lindley  was  on  altogether  too  friendly  terms  with  the 
railroad  and  its  machine. 

The  Democratic  Legislature  met  in  January  of  1893  and 
elected  Stephen  M.  White  of  Los  Angeles  to  the  Senate, 
the  man  who  was  to  win  the  San  Pedro  appropriation  after 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  battles  ever  fought  in  the 
halls  of  Congress. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
THE  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE  TAKES  A  VOTE. 

THE  time  was  now  at  hand  in  Los  Angeles  when  the  lines 
were  to  be  drawn  between  those  who  favored  the 
railroad  choice  for  a  harbor  site  and  those  who  proposed  to 
abide  by  the  decisions  of  the  engineer  boards.  The  issue 
was  becoming  a  live  one,  that  could  not  be  evaded.  Every- 
body deplored  the  existence  of  the  controversy,  but  each  side 
laid  the  blame  for  it  upon  the  other.  The  Santa  Monica 
partisans  denounced  their  opponents  for  "fighting  the  rail- 
road" and  alienating  thereby  a  powerful  friend,  that  could 
either  get  us  the  appropriation  or  keep  it  eternally  out  of 
our  reach.  On  the  other  hand,  the  San  Pedro  element 
sneered  at  the  "railway  crowd,"  as  they  were  disposed  un- 
justly to  call  those  on  the  other  side,  and  reiterated  the  ques- 
tion :  how  was  it  proposed  to  get  an  appropriation  for  a  spot 
that  had  been  unanimously  damned  by  two  different  boards 
of  engineers. 

The  contest  was  at  first  good-natured  enough,  but,  as  was 
inevitable  where  such  considerable  interests  were  at  stake, 
rancor  soon  crept  in.  With  the  Herald  and  Express  support- 
ing the  Santa  Monica  site,  against  the  Times,  which  favored 
San  Pedro,  the  hurling  of  epithets  was  not  long  to  be  de- 


THE  CONTESTANTS  LINE  UP.  105 

ferred.  There  were  cautious  and  conservative  men  on  both 
sides,,. who  constantly  expressed  the  fear  that  the  division 
might  terminate  in  putting  off  all  appropriations  for  an 
indefinite  period;  but  the  majority  of  these  presently  found 
themselves  drawn  into  the  whirl  of  the  combat,  and  decided 
that  the  only  way  to  secure  peace  was  to  fight  for  it.  There 
were  also  not  a  few  cheerful  souls  who  managed  to  hold 
seats  in  both  factions,  and  some  who  professed  to  be  strictly 
"on  the  fence."  But  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of 
Los  Angeles  found  permanent  location  on  one  side  or  the 
other,  and  this  was  especially  true  of  those  who  held  po- 
litical positions  and  those  who  were  prominent  in  public 
work. 

By  the  beginning  of  1894,  the  long  wharf  at  Santa  Mon- 
ica was  about  completed,  and  was  thrown  open  for  public 
use.  The  enterprise  of  the  railroad  was  widely  commended, 
and  the  people  of  Los  Angeles,  especially  the  merchants  who 
would  have  occasion  to  ship  over  the  wharf,  expressed  great 
gratification  at  the  substantial  and  useful  improvement.  A 
considerable  tide  of  business  that  had  formerly  flowed  into 
Los  Angeles  by  way  of  San  Pedro,  and  later  by  way  of  Re- 
dondo,  was  now  suddenly  transferred  to  the  more  northerly 
port. 

Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington  was  much  pleased  with  the  favor- 
able outlook  for  his  new  venture,  and  when  the  work  was 
completed,  he  paid  it  a  visit  of  inspection.  While  in  Los 
Angeles,  he  called  at  the  rooms  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, and  asked  for  a  conference  with  some  of  its  officers 
on  the  subject  of  local  harbor  improvements.  The  Presi- 
dent, Mr.  D.  Freeman,  and  Gen.  Chas.  Forman,  one  of  the 
vice-presidents,  were  summoned  by  telephone,  and  there 
were  present  besides  those  gentlemen  and  Mr.  Huntington, 
the  Secretary  of  the  Chamber,  and  the  Southern  Pacific 
local  agent,  Mr.  Crawley.  The  conversation  lasted  about 
an  hour.  Mr.  Huntington  did  a  large  part  of  the  talking, 
for  the  representatives  of  the  Chamber,  knowing  that  the 
Southern  Pacific  president  was  absolutely  determined  upon 
a  Santa  Monica  policy,  and  that  the  interests  of  his  corpora- 
tion were  considerably  involved,  forebore  to  discuss  the 
issue  beyond  what  was  required  for  politeness'  sake. 

"You  people  are  making  a  big  mistake  in  supporting  this 


106  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

San  Pedro  appropriation,"  said  he.  "The  River  and  Har- 
bor Committee  of  the  House  will  never  report  in  favor  of 
that  place — not  in  a  thousand  years.  I  know  them  all,  and 
have  talked  with  them  about  this  matter.  The  same  is  true 
of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Commerce.  The  chairman  of 
that  committee,  Senator  Frye,  has  visited  both  harbors  and 
he  says  he  wall  never  consent  to  the  expenditure  of  one  dollar 
for  an  outside  harbor  at  San  Pedro.  He  thinks  it  cannot 
be  built,  and  his  mind  will  not  change,  no  matter  how  many 
reports  you  may  get  to  the  contrary.  And  you  know  the 
chairman  of  that  committee  is  all-powerful  in  the  matter  of 
appropriations." 

"But  will  Congress  appropriate  money  for  an  improve- 
ment against  the  advice  of  its  engineers  ?"  was  asked. 

"It  has  done  so  on  numberless  occasions,"*  answered  Mr. 
Huntington.  "Besides,  the  engineers  have  not  reported 
against  Santa  Monica.  They  have  simply  declared  that  the 
San  Pedro  work  is  somewhat  cheaper  than  the  other,  and 
the  difference  is  so  small  that  I  would  sooner  pay  it  out  of 
my  own  pocket  than  have  such  a  mistake  made  in  location  as 
would  occur  if  the  harbor  were  to  be  built  at  San  Pedro.t 
Congress  is  all-powerful  in  the  matter  of  appropriations, 
and  can  do  as  it  sees  fit.  It  can  appoint  a  board  with  in- 
structions to  find  in  favor  of  Santa  Monica,  if  it  chooses  to 
do  so." 

"Now,  I  propose  to  be  frank  with  you  people,"  continued 
the  Southern  Pacific  president,  "I  do  not  find  it  to  my  ad- 
vantage to  have  this  harbor  built  at  San  Pedro,  and  I  shall  be 

*  This  statement,  which  was  frequently  made  by  the  Santa  Monica  ad- 
herents, had  but  slight  basis  in  fact.  It  is  true  that  the  Government 
engineers  had  advised  against  the  experiment  of  the  Eads  jetties,  and 
that  Congress  went  ahead  in  spite  of  that  advice  ;  but  the  case  is  scarcely 
parallel  with  that  of  the  harbor  controversy.  The  position  taken  by  the 
engineers  in  the  matter  of  the  Eads  jetties  was  that  the  experiment 
would  probably  not  succeed  ;  but  the  States  along  the  lower  Mississippi 
demanded,  in  their  desperation  that  something  be  done,  and  the  jetties 
were  finally  constructed,  according  to  the  plans  of  private  engineers.  No 
other  examples  of  any  importance  were  ever  quoted. 

t  If  the  reader  will  examine  the  report  of  the  Craigill  Board,  Chapter 
IX,  he  will  find  that  cost  is  only  one  of  a  number  of  counts  in  the  indict- 
ment against  Santa  Monica. 


SOME  VERY  PLAIN  TALK.  107 

compelled  to  oppose  all  efforts  that  you  or  others  make  to 
secure  appropriations  for  that  site;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
Santa  Monica  location  will  suit  me  perfectly,  and  if  you 
folks  will  get  in  and  work  for  that,  you  will  find  me  on  your 
side — and  I  think  I  have  some  little  influence  at  Washing- 
ton— as  much  as  some  other  people,  perhaps." 

Mr.  Huntington  then  proceeded  to  tell  of  his  plans  with 
reference  to  trans-Pacific  commerce  over  the  Santa  Monica 
wharf,  covering  much  the  same  line  as  the  banquet  speech 
of  W.  H.  Mills  a  year  before.  The  Chamber's  representa- 
tives were  much  interested,  and  asked  a  number  of  ques- 
tions on  this  topic;  but  on  the  harbor  issue  they  were  dumb, 
and  even  Mr.  Huntington's  direct  inquiries  failed  to  bring 
satisfactory  answers. 

At  the  very  conclusion  of  the  interview,  Mr.  Huntington 
showed  for  the  first  time  his  decided  animus  in  the  matter. 
He  brought  down  his  fist  with  some  force  on  the  desk  where 
he  sat,  and  said :  "Well,  I  don't  know,  for  sure,  that  I  can 
get  this  money  for  Santa  Monica ;  I  think  I  can.  But  I 
know  damned  well  that  you  shall  never  get  a  cent  for  thai 
other  place." 

He  rose  to  his  feet,  his  face  a  little  flushed  with  annoy- 
ance or  anger,  but  a  moment  later  was  smiling  pleasantly, 
as  he  proposed  that  the  Chamber's  Board  of  Directors  go 
down  to  Santa  Monica  the  next  day  in  his  private  car,  and 
inspect  the  wharf. 

The  invitation  was  accepted,  and  about  a  dozen  members 
of  the  Board  went  in  the  party  the  following  day.  They 
visited  the  wharf,  and  then  repaired  to  the  Arcadia  Hotel, 
where  some  wine  was  served,  and  where  Mr.  Huntington 
proved  a  most  agreeable  host. 

No  publication  was  made  of  this  conference  at  the  time, 
and  very  little  was  ever  said  about  it,  as  those  who  were 
present,  representing  the  chamber,  were  anxious  to  avoid 
rousing  any  ill-will  on  the  harbor  subject,  and  it  was  feared 
that  Mr.  Huntington's  threat,  if  it  became  generally  known, 
might  increase  the  growing  bitterness. 

In  the  month  of  September,  1892,  about  the  time  of  the 
meeting  of  the  Craighill  Board,  Mr.  J.  M.  Crawley,  the 
Southern  Pacific  local  representative,  prepared  a  petition 
asking  that  the  deep-sea  harbor  appropriation,  if  one  should 


io8  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

be  allotted  to  this  section,  should  go  to  Santa  Monica,  in- 
stead of  San  Pedro,  and  he  secured  to  this  document  the  sig- 
natures of  eighty-three  of  the  leading  merchants  of  Los 
Angeles,  particularly  those  engaged  in  wholesale  trade  and 
importing,  and  the  signatures  represented  business  capital- 
amounting  to  over  ten  million  dollars. 

The  names  were  carefully  selected  and  the  list  very  nearly 
covered  the  field.  Mr.  Crawley  afterwards  declared  that 
only  a  few  who  were  approached  refused  to  sign  it,  and  that 
all  the  others  signed  cheerfully  and  without  discussion. 
This  list  was  frequently  referred  to  thereafter  by  the  rail- 
road to  demonstrate  that,  whatever  the  popular  sentiment 
might  be  on  the  subject  of  the  harbor,  the  mercantile  influ- 
ence was  in  favor  of  Santa  Monica.  Against  this  it  was 
.urged  that  many  of  the  merchants  felt  themselves  compelled 
to  sign  the  petition  to  continue  friendly  relations  with  the 
road,  and  that  others  signed  it  under  a  misapprehension, 
supposing  that  it  was  merely  a  request  to  the  government 
to  "do  something  for  Santa  Monica."  But  whatever  value 
the  petition  may  have  had  as  showing  the  status  of  public 
opinion  prior  to  the  decision  of  the  Craighill  Board,  it  was 
certainly  inoperative  after  that  decision  had  been  rendered. 

On  the  /th  day  of  March,  1894,  eighteen  months  after  the 
names  had  been  gathered,  Mr.  Crawley  appeared  before  the 
Directors  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  presented  this 
petition,  and  asked  that  action  be  taken  in  accordance 
with  it. 

"The  gentlemen  who  sign  this  document,"  said  Mr.  Craw- 
ley addressing  the  board,  "are  all  active  members  of  your 
organization,  and  their  names  are  fairly  representative  of 
the  mercantile  element  of  the  community.  I  am  informed 
that  your  organization  is  about  to  adopt  some  resolutions  on 
the  question  of  the  harbor  site,  and  is  considering  the  ad- 
visability of  sending  a  special  delegate  to  Washington  to 
represent  the  commercial  interests  of  this  section.  Now  I 
ask,  as  a  member  of  this  organization,  and  as  representing 
a  corporation  which  is  largely  interested  in  the  welfare  of 
Southern  California,  that  you  act  as  this  petition  suggests, 
and  resolve  in  favor  of  appropriations  for  Santa  Monica. 

Consideration  of  Mr.  Crawley's  request  was  deferred 
until  the  next  meeting  of  the  board,  which  took  place  March 


THE  DEBATE  IN  THE  BOARD.  109 

1 4th,  and  at  this  a  lively  discussion  began,  which  was  pro- 
tracted by  one  parliamentary  device  or  another  from  meet- 
ing to  meeting  for  nearly  a  month.  At  the  outset,  there 
seemed  to  be  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  board  would  be 
for  San  Pedro  by  a  good  working  majority.  Less  than  a 
year  previous,  this  same  body  had,  by  a  unanimous  vote, 
passed  a  resolution  strongly  in  favor  of  the  site  selected  by 
the  engineers,  and  had  sent  Gen.  Forman  to  Washington  to 
present  that  side  of  the  case.  To  follow  Mr.  Crawley's  sug- 
gestion involved  a  complete  and  rather  humiliating  change 
of  front.  Kaspare  Cohn,  a  large  shipper  of  wool,  and  a  man 
of  high  standing  in  the  community,  offered  the  resolutions 
in  favor  of  Santa  Monica.  They  read  as  follows : 

Whereas,  By  reason  of  the  close  proximity  of  Santa  Mon- 
ica to  Los  Angeles,  and  the  rapid  and  continuous  growth  of 
the  city  of  Los  Angeles  toward  Santa  Monica,  unmistaka- 
ble evidence  to  all  that  in  time  the  western  boundary  of 
the  city  of  Los  Angeles  will  be  the  ocean  front  at  Santa 
Monica;  and 

Whereas,  The  greater  distance  and  the  topography  of  the 
country  between  Los  Angeles  and  San  Pedro  are  barriers 
to  the  growth  of  the  City  of  Los  Angeles  in  the  direction  of 
San  Pedro ;  and 

Whereas,  There  is  now  built  at  Santa  Monica  a  wharf 
4660  feet  in  length,  reaching  to  a  point  where  there  is  40 
feet  of  water  at  high  tide,  thus  bringing  ships  of  the  deepest 
draft  and  cars  together;  and 

Whereas,  It  is  desirable  that  the  freight  intended  for  Los 
Angeles  and  this  section  of  the  State,  which  is  loaded  in 
vessels  at  ports  on  the  Atlantic  Coast,  at  Panama,  and  ports 
in  Mexico,  and  which  now  passes  Santa  Monica  and  is  taken 
to  San  Francisco  and  again  shipped  to  Los  Angeles,  and  this 
part  of  the  State,  thereby  increasing  the  cost  of  such  freight, 
that  it  should  be  unloaded  from  vessels  at  the  nearest  point 
to  Los  Angeles;  and 

Whereas,  Eighty-three  of  the  merchants  of  Los  Angeles, 
representing  about  ten  million  dollars  of  capital,  fully  real- 
izing the  situation,  and  viewing  it  from  a  commercial  stand- 
point, have  subscribed  to  a  petition,  copy  of  which  accom- 
panies this  resolution,  urging  that  Santa  Monica  be  selected 
as  the  proper  place  where  a  breakwater  should  be  con- 
structed; now,  therefore,  be  it 


no  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

Resolved :  That  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  representing 
as  it  does,  the  commercial  interests  of  the  city  of  Los  Angeles, 
do  make  known  to  our  Senators  and  Representatives  at 
Washington  that  for  the  reasons  set  forth  above  we  believe 
the  construction  of  a  breakwater  and  the  creation  of  a  har- 
bor at  Santa  Monica  will  best  serve  our  commercial  interests, 
and  that  such  action  will  receive  the  strong  support  of  the 
people;  and  we  do  hereby  pray  Congress  that  an  appropria- 
tion be  made  for  that  purpose,  independent  of  any  appropria- 
tion, which  may  be  needed  to  maintain  in  good  condition 
what  is  known  as  the  inner  harbor  of  San  Pedro  and  Wil- 
mington. 

Mr.  L.  N.  Breed,  a  banker,  offered  a  compromise  resolu- 
tion in  line  with  the  plan  which  two  years  later  came  to  be 
known  as  the  "double  appropriation  scheme."  It  asked 
that  money  be  appropriated  to  construct  a  deep-water  har- 
bor at  Santa  Monica,  'and  also  to  dredge  out  and  improve 
the  inner  harbor  at  San  Pedro. 

'Mr.  W.  C.  Patterson,  a  wholesale  produce  merchant,  who 
afterwards  became  president  of  the  Chamber,  and  Who  was 
to  the  end  a  most  effective  worker  in  the  Free  Harbor  cause, 
proposed  the  following: 

Whereas,  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce is  in  receipt  of  a  petition  from  MrJJ.  M.  Crawley 
of  the  Southern  Pacific  Company,  asking  that  we  call  upon 
our  representatives  at  Washington  to  favOr  an  appropriation 
for  Santa  Monica  instead  of  San  Pedro,  and 

Whereas,  Three  separate  commissions  of  United  States 
Engineers,  appointed  to  examine  the  coast  and  decide  upon 
a  proper  location'  for  a  deep-water  harbor  in  this  vicinity  have 
unanimously  declared  in  favor  of  San  Pedro,  and 

Whereas,  It  is  the  invariable  custom  of  Congress  in  cases 
of  this  character  to  refuse  all  appropriations  that  are  not  in 
accordance  with  the  decisions  of  its  engineers;  therefore  be 
it-  -i  I 

Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Board  of  Directors 
an  appeal  to  our  representatives  'to  support  an  appropriation 
for  Santa  Monica  wouldy  under  the  rridst  favorable  cifdum^ 
stances,  result  6nly  in  the  appointment  of  a  fourth  commis- 
sion who  would  probably  make  the  same  report  as  their  pre- 
decessors. 

Resolved,  That  we  see  at  the  present  time  no  cause  to  at- 
tempt to  reverse  the  action  invariably  taken  by  this  board 


A  DRAWN  BATTLE  in 

and  by  the  members  of  the  chamber  when  called  together 
to  consider  this  question,  and  that  we  now  again  place  our- 
selves on  record  as  favoring  an  appropriation  to  begin  the 
work  on  the  outer  harbor  at  San  Pedro. 

Resolved,  That  we  call  upon  the  people  and  press  and  pub- 
lic organizations  of  Los  Angeles  and  Southern  California  to 
stand  firmly  together  on  this  proposition,  and  not  allow 
themselves  to  be  confused  or  divided  by  the  claim  that  the 
influence  of  any  individual  or  corporation  can  prevail  against 
the  repeated  and  emphatic  reports  of  the  government  engin- 
eers, and  that  we  warn  our  people  that  agitation  in  favor  of 
any  other  place  than  the  one  recommended  by  the  engineers 
is  destined  to  result  only  in  delaying  still  further  the  con- 
struction of  the  needed  harbor. 

The  sessions  of  the  board  were  supposed  to  be  executive, 
but  a  reporter  of  the  Express  managed  to  smuggle  himself 
into  the  room  as  an  assistant  clerk,  and  remained  there 
through  the  whole  of  the  session.  The  next  day 'the  mem- 
bers of  the  Chamber  became  aware,  through  the  publication 
of  the  debate,  that  the  board  was  anything  but  unanimous 
on  the  subject  of  the  harbor  site,  and  the  discussion  was 
taken  up  in  earnest  all  over  the  city.  Henry  T.  Hazard, 
who  was  at  that  time  Mayor  of  the  city,  led  the  debate  in 
the  board  on  the  San  Pedro  side,  seconded  by  Mr.  Patterson 
and  Gen.  Forman ;  and  the  principal  Santa  Monica  advocates 
were  Mr.  James  B.  Lankershim  and  Mr.  Breed. 

On  three  different  occasions  when  the  rhattier  was  about 
to  come  to  a  vote,  an  adjournment  was  secured.  In  the 
course  of  the  long  debate,  Santa  Monica  gained  and  San 
Pedro  lost.  At  first  it  was  the  Santa  Monica  men  that  dared 
not  come  to  a  vote,  but  in  the  end  the  conditions  were  re- 
versed, and  it  was  clear  that  if  a  decision  was  reached  in 
the  board,  it  must  be  against  the  site  selected  by 'the  en- 
gineers. 

Had  the  vote  been  won  for  Santa  Monica,  it  would  have 
supplied  the  partisans  of  that  side  with  what  was  their  most 
serious  lack  through  the  whole  of  the  contest,  viz:,  an  au- 
thoritative public  expression  in  favor  of  their  site.  It  might 
also  have  served  permanently  to  divide  public  sentiitieiit, 
which  would  have  made  the  victory  that  fnuch  the  '  more 
difficult  of  winning.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce,  having 
thus  reversed  its  position,  would  have  lost  its  standing' with 


112 


THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 


the  people  of  Los  Angeles,  and  if  it  had  not  actually  gone  to 
pieces  under  the  strain,  it  would  at  least  have  been  seriously 
crippled,  and  incapacitated  from  giving  the  help  in  the  con- 
test that  was  afterwards  so  much  needed.  In  short,  this  was 
a  critical  moment  in  the  battle,  and  all  who  were  concerned 
felt  it  to  be  so  at  the  time. 

There  was  a  provision  in  the  constitution  of  the  Chamber, 
which  had  never  before  been  put  into  use,  whereby,  if  the 


W.  C.  PATTERSON. 

members  were  dissatisfied  with  the  action  of  the  board  in 
any  matter,  a  petition  to  the  president,  signed  by  the  requi- 
site number  of  names,  would  compel  the  calling  of  a  general 
meeting,  at  which  all  could  vote.  When  it  became  evident 
that,  if  the  board  took  action  —  and  it  could  not  well  be 
longer  postponed — the  result  would  be  a  change  of  front  for 
the  Chamber,  Gen.  Edward  Bouton  started  a  petition 


THE  BALLOT  OF  THE  MEMBERS.  113 

addressed  to  President  Freeman,  asking  that  a  vote  be  taken 
by  ballot  among  the  members  of  the  Chamber,  as  to  whether 
that  organization  was  to  advocate  one  site  or  the  other. 

The  membership  of  the  chamber  at  that  time  was  about 
550.  The  date  fixed  by  the  president  for  the  ballot  was  less 
than  a  week  away,  and  during  that  short  period  a  very  lively 
campaign  was  waged.  The  Times  published  each  day  a 
series  of  strong  editorial  leaders,  some  of  which  were  written 


H.  z  OSBORNE. 


by  Col.  Otis  himself,  and  others  by  Mr.  Spalding,  but  the 
greater  number  by  Harry  Ellington  Brook,  who  for  the  past 
twelve  years  has  been  an  editorial  writer  on  the  Times,  and 
whose  devotion  to  the  San  Pedro  cause  had  much  to  do  with 
the  efficiency  of  that  paper's  service.  The  Express,  under 
the  management  of  Col.  H.  Z.  Osborne,  and  the  Herald, 
under  the  management  of  Messrs.  J.  J.  Ayers  and  J.  D. 
Lynch,  espoused  the  Santa  Monica  cause  with  considerable 
force  and  skill. 

The  Terminal  Railway  took  an  active  hand  in  the  fight, 
and  issued  a  printed  pamphlet  which  contained  the  full  report 
of  the  Craighill  Board  in  favor  of  San  Pedro.  The  Santa 
Fe,  which  had  up  to  this  time  stood  aloof,  was  now  drawn 


n4  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

into  the  conflict,  and  from  this  time  on  its  influence  was 
thrown  in  favor  of  the  San  Pedro  cause.  Every  mail 
brought  showers  of  circulars  and  letters  to  the  members  of 
the  Chamber;  there  were  excursions  to  Santa  Monica  and 
San  Pedro,  and  doubtful  voters  were  kept  busy  dodging 
the  campaign  committees  of  one  side  or  the  other. 

The  ballot  was  held  April  7,  1894,  and*  lasted  from  nine 
in  the  morning  until  five  in  the  afternoon.  It  was  con- 
ducted on  the  Australian  system;  each  voter  went  to  a  table 
by  himself  and  stamped  his  ballot  with  a  rubber  stamp  "For 
San  Pedro"  or  "For  Santa  Monica."  Members  of  the 
board  served  as  tellers,  equally  divided  between  the  two  fac- 
tions. A  considerable  amount  of  feeling  was  shown  to  exist 
by  the  utterances  of  many  who  came  to  vote,  although  the 
principals  to  the  affair,  particularly  the  railway  men,  re- 
mained good-natured. 

When  the  ballots  were  counted,  it  was  found  that  464  had 
been  cast,  of  which  5  were  scattering  and  the  others  were 
divided  as  follows : 

San  Pedro 328 

Santa  Monica   131 

Public  sentiment  of  Los  Angeles,  as  evidenced  by  the  vote 
of  its  recognized  commercial  representative,  was  for  the 
ancient  port  by  a  majority  of  more  than  two  to  one. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  WINTER  OF  OUR  DISCONTENT. 

THE  vote  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  was  regarded  as 
another  "final  settlement"  of  the  harbor  issue,  as  far  as 
a  division  among  the  people  of  Los  Angeles  was  concerned. 
A  number  of  citizens  who  had  supported  the  Santa  Monica 
site,  finding  by  this  fair  test  of  public  sentiment  that  the  great 
majority  of  the  active  men  of  the  city  preferred  San  Pedro, 
decided  to  go  in  with  the  majority,  and  thereafter  became 
enthusiastic  workers  on  the  side  against  the  railroad. 

"It  is  evident,"  said  they,  "if  we  are  to  win  any  harbor 
appropriation,   that  all  must  pull  together   for  one  place. 


THE  SESSION  OF  1894.  115 

A  vote  has  been  taken,  and  the  majority  is  for  San  Pedro. 
In  the  face  of  that  vote,  we  cannot  ask  the  others  to  come 
to  our  way  of  thinking;  we  must,  therefore,  go  over  to 
theirs." 

By  a  unanimous  vote  the  Directors  of  the  Chamber  now 
passed  the  Patterson  resolutions,  supplemented  with  a  state- 
ment of  the  ballot  of  the  members  of  the  organization.  It 
was  decided  to  send  as  a  special  delegate  to  Washington  Col. 
S.  O.  Houghton,  who  had  secured  the  first  appropriation  for 


GEORGE  S.  PATTON. 

San  Pedro  twenty-five  years  before.  When  the  time  came 
for  his  departure,  Col.  Houghton  found  himself  unable  to 
go,  and  Geo.  S.  Patton,  a  bright  young  man  of  Southern 
origin,  eloquent  as  a  speaker  and  well-informed  on  the 
harbor  topic,  was  chosen  in  his  place. 

This  was,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  long  session  of  the 
first  congress  of  the  Cleveland  administration,  the  session 
when  the  fight  over  the  Wilson  tariff  bill  was  carried  clear 
through  the  summer.  Both  House  and  Senate  were  Demo- 
cratic, and  Mr.  Frye  was  compelled  to  give  up  the  chairman- 


n6  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

ship  of  the  Committee  on  Commerce  to  Ransom  of  North 
Carolina. 

Mr.  Gibbon  was  present  at  the  beginning  of  the  session, 
early  in  1894,  but  had  been  recalled  to  Los  Angeles  when 
the  division  occurred  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  After 
the  vote  was  taken,  with  a  favorable  result  which  his  efforts 
had  in  no  small  degree  assisted  to  bring  about,  he  returned 
to  Washington,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Patton. 

Owing  to  the  presence  of  Mr.  White  on  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee on  Commerce,  it  was  decided  to  make  the  effort  to 
get  a  San  Pedro  item  into  the  River  and  Harbor  bill  by 
amendment  in  the  Senate.  It  was  a  most  unusual  thing  for 
a  new  Senator,  one  who  had  not  even  seen  service  in  the 
lower  house,  to  receive  a  place  on  that  important  committee, 
but  Mr.  White's  eminence  in  the  party,  and  the  great  repu- 
tation for  ability  and  industry  which  he  had  brought  with 
him  from  California,  made  his  appointment  to  that  position 
possible. 

Mr.  WThite  is  a  fearless  and  a  determined  character,  and, 
when  he  believes  in  any  cause,  is  open  and  aggressive  in 
fighting  its  battles.  Now  that  the  six  years  of  his  servke 
in  Congress  are  at  an  end,  and  may  be  regarded  in  their  en- 
tirety, one  may  pause  in  \vonder  and  admiration  over  the 
unique  career  that  they  represent.  It  is  not  merely  that  Mr. 
White  is  an  orator  of  exceptional  power  and  force,  nor 
that  he  is  a  lawyer  of  profound  reasoning  power  and  broad 
range  of  judgment,  nor  that  he  understands  men  and  can 
influence  and  control  their  actions — all  these  things  might 
be  true  of  him,  and  yet  he  would  not  be  the  man  we  know 
now  as  Stephen  M.  White.  It  is  his  sincerity  and  his  cour- 
age that  would  remain  as  the  distinguishing  marks  of  his 
public  career,  even  if  all  else  were  to  be  forgotten.  At  a 
time  when  the  people  of  this  country  were  resolved,  by  a 
majority  so  great  as  to  be  literally  overwhelming,  that  war 
should  be  declared  against  Spain,  when  even  the  warning 
note  from  the  President  that  the  nation  was  not  prepared  for 
the  contest  failed  to  hold  the  tide  in  check,  and  when  the 
only  ground  for  discussion  in  Congress  was  not  whether 
nor  why  we  should  declare  war,  but  merely  how  and  when, 
there  was  one  man,  and  we  may  almost  say  only  one,  who 
rose  to  urge  with  all  the  force  of  logic  and  eloquence  at  his 


WHITE  IN  THE  SENATE. 


117 


command,  that  the  country  pause  before  it  should  undertake 
a  war  which  he  regarded  as  at  once  causeless  and  full  of 
danger.  It  is  not  a  question  now  of  whether  he  was  right 
or  wrong  in  his  judgment  and  his  premonitions;  he  had 
not  the  favor  of  the  galleries,  for  the  report  says  they  listened 
in  absolute  silence  though  with  the  closest  attention;  he  had 


SENATOR  STEPHEN  M.  WHITE. 


not  the  support  of  his  fellow  Senators,  for  on  every  amend- 
ment and  on  the  main  issue  the  vote  went  heavily  against 
him;  but  it  was  the  calmness  and  deliberation  of  the  speech, 
its  broad,  statesman-like  view  and  the  splendid  courage  and 
honesty  of  the  speaker,  that  challenged  admiration  then,  as 
they  do  now. 

The  people  of  Los  Angeles  are  perhaps  too  near  to  Mr. 
White  to  be  able  to  form  a  correct  judgment  of  his  character. 
Many  of  them  have  oscillated  between  an  unbounded  ad- 
miration at  one  time  and  a  disposition  to  criticise  at  another. 
When  he  entered  the  Senate,  great  things  were  expected 


n8  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

of  him — things  which  were  finally  realized,  for  at  the  end 
of  his  term  he  had  achieved  a  position  in  the  very  first  rank 
of  American  Senators — but  at  first  there  was  a  disappoint- 
ment. Mr.  White  was  expected  to  throw  himself  with  vigor 
into  the  harbor  controversy,  and  to  use  plain  language  where 
it  would  be  heard  by  the  whole  nation.  But  through  the 
first  two  years,  he  did  his  duty  by  the  harbor  issue — and  he 
seemed  to  do  no  more.  When  special  delegates  came  on 
to  Washington  from  Los  Angeles,  he  presented  them  to  the 
Commerce  Committee  and  arranged  for  their  hearing.  He 
spoke  for  San  Pedro  himself  with  clearness  and  skill  on 
each  available  opportunity  before  the  committee,  and  on 
two  occasions  before  the  Senate.  But  there  was  lacking 
the  fire  and  determination  and  persistency  that  had  been 
expected.  We  know  now  that  he  was  pursuing  the  wisest 
course;  that  he  was  saving  his  influence,  guarding  and 
strengthening  it,  for  the  time  when  it  would  prove  most 
effective  in  actual  result;  and  that  he  understood,  as  no  one 
else  did,  the  tremendous  power  wielded  by  the  Huntington 
lobby  in  Washington. 

In  the  month  of  June  the  Commerce  Committee  of  the 
Senate  gave  a  hearing  to  the  San  Pedro- Santa  Monica 
question.  The  Los  Angeles  representatives  stated  their 
case  and  were  followed  by  Mr.  C.  P.  Huntington,  who  ap- 
peared in  person,  and  asked  that  an  appropriation  of  $4,000,- 
ooo  be  made  for  the  breakwater  at  Port  Los  Angeles.  Mr. 
Hood  repeated  his  objections  to  San  Pedro,  and  after  him 
came  E.  L.  Corthell,  a  riparian  engineer  of  national  emi- 
nence, who  stated  that  he  had  looked  over  the  two  harbors 
at  the  request  of  Mr.  Huntington,  and  had  found  Santa 
Monica  much  the  superior.  He  asserted  among  other  things 
that  the  currents  along  the  shore  at  San  Pedro  were  from 
east  to  west,  and  that  sand  would  be  carried  into  the  harbor 
in  large  quantities,  necessitating  constant  dredging.  This 
statement,  which  was  reiterated  thereafter  by  all  who  sup- 
ported the  Santa  Monica  side,  was  denied  at  the  time  by  Mr. 
Gibbon,  who  narrated  the  fact,  known  to  all  residents  on  San 
Pedro  bay,  that  lumber  or  coal  washed  overboard  at  San 
Pedro,  always  drifts  easterly,  and  comes  ashore  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Long  Beach.  Two  years  later,  the  Walker 


THE  SENATE  COMMITTEE  ON  COMMERCE.    119 

Board  gave  a  thorough  consideration  to  the  matter  of  cur- 
rents, and  Mr.  Corthell's  theory  was  finally  ruled  out.* 

The  contest  in  the  committee  was  prolonged  through  sev- 
eral weeks,  and  it  was  not  until  the  middle  of  July  that  a 
decision  was  reached.  In  the  beginning  the  San  Pedro  ad- 
vocates thought  they  had  to  face  merely  the  issue  of  an  ap- 
propriation for  that  place  or  no  appropriation  at  all;  but 
they  presently  discovered  that  the  Santa  Monica  location, 
which  had  received  no  commendation  from  the  engineers, 
and  for  which  no  one  except  Mr.  Huntington  put  in  a  claim, 
could  count  a  number  of  determined  friends  on  the  com- 
mittee, and  it  was  apparently  to  be  a  question  of  Santa  Mon- 
ica or  nothing.  This  situation  had  been  fairly  outlined  by 
Senator  White  some  months  previous  in  a  telegram  to  Mr. 
D.  Freeman,  the  president  of  the  Chamber,  who  at  the  time 
the  election  was  about  to  take  place,  had  applied  to  Mr.  White 
for  his  opinion  as  to  San  Pedro's  chances;  and  the  latter 
had  responded,  with  perhaps  more  of  truth  and  sincerity 
than  discretion,  that  the  feeling  in  the  Senate  Committee 
was  in  favor  of  Santa  Monica  rather  than  San  Pedro,  and 
that  any  effort  to  get  an  appropriation  for  the  latter  point 
would  involve  a  hard  fight  with  uncertain  issue.  Mr.  Free- 
man handed  the  telegram  to  a  careless  person,  who  allowed  it 
to  fall  into  a  grate  fire  that  was  burning  in  the  room — and 
it  was  promptly  forgotten.  Had  it  been  made  public  just 
at  that  time,  the  vote  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  might 
have  gone  the  other  way,  with  what  consequences  it  is  hard 
to  tell.  The  what-might-have-beens  of  history  are  some- 
times very  interesting.  Mr.  White's  purpose  in  sending 
the  telegram — if  he  had  a  purpose  beyond  that  of  giving 
truthfully  the  information  for  which  he  was  asked — was 
this :  he  knew  that  Mr.  Freeman,  and  the  moving  spirits 
in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  were  not  likely  to  be  turned 
aside  from  their  purpose  to  secure  a  competitive  harbor  for 
Los  Angeles,  by  the  mere  knowledge  that  the  path  was  beset 
with  difficulty;  but,  on  the  other  hand  they  must,  by  learn- 

*  While  the  Walker  Board  was  carrying  on  its  investigation  in  San 
Pedro  Bay,  a  sailor  on  the  government  boat,  the  Gedney,  fell  overboard 
and  was  drowned  near  San  Pedro.  His  body  was  recovered  some  dis- 
tance down  the  shore  toward  I/ong  Beach  —  a  striking  evidence  of  the 
error  of  Mr.  Corthell's  theory. 


120  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

ing  the  truth  of  the  situation,  share  part  of  the  responsibility 
for  the  contest  that  was  about  to  be  undertaken. 

Now,  for  the  first  time,  the  attention  of  the  newspapers  of 
the  Eastern  States  began  to  be  attracted  to  the  harbor  mat- 
ter. A  combat  between  the  advocates  of  rival  sites  for  har- 
bor improvement  would  naturally  have  but  little  interest  for 
people  removed  from  the  immediate  locality  that  was  con- 
cerned; but  here  was  an  issue  that  involved  questions  of 
grave  national  importance:  Should  a  harbor  be  located 
in  accordance  with  the  judgment  of  the  government 
engineers,  based  on  thorough  acquaintance  with  all  the  con- 
ditions, and  in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  people  of 
the  section,  and  the  demands  of  all  their  representatives; 
or  upon  the  mere  ipse  dixit  of  one  rich  and  powerful  man, 
whose  commercial  interest  required  it  in  another  place?  Is 
this — as  the  New  York  World  pertinently  asked  regarding 
the  matter — "Is  this  a  government  by  the  people,  for  the 
people,  or  a  government  by  Mr.  Huntington,  for  Mr.  Hunt- 
ington?  The  question  may  as  well  be  settled  in  the  Santa 
Monica-San  Pedro  controversy,  as  anywhere:  now,  as  at 
any  time." 

Several  New  York,  Chicago  and  St.  Louis  papers  pub- 
lished articles  on  the  subject,  and  the  New  York  World  was 
particularly  severe  upon  Senator  Jones,  who  in  those  days 
took  an  aggressive  stand  in  favor  of  Santa  Monica.  Sub- 
sequently he  grew  more  moderate,  although  his  vote  was 
always  for  the  Huntington  site.  This  is  the  way  the  World 
puts  it  (June  26)  : 

The  advantages  which  the  building  of  an  artificial  har- 
bor at  Santa  Monica  would  bring  to  Senator  Jones  person- 
ally, it  is  difficult  to  overestimate.  The  official  record 
sheds  some  light  upon  the  subject.  The  county  records  of 
Los  Angeles  show  that  the  property  adjoining  the  exclusive 
water-front  of  the  Southern  Pacific  is  divided  into  eight 
holdings.  The  title  to  parcels  .one,  two  and  eight  are  in  the 
names  of  John  P.  Jones  and  Arcadia  B.  de  Baker.  They 
constitute  three-quarters  of  all  the  lands  situated  as  de- 
scribed. All  the  remainder  of  the  land  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  feet  at  the  mouth  of  the  Santa  Monica  canyon  is  in  the 
name  of  Frank  H.  Davis,  representing  Mr.  Huntington. 
It  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Huntington' s  Santa  Monica  enter- 


EASTERN  NEWSPAPER  COMMENT.  121 

prise  throughout  its  entire  extent  is  as  exclusive  as  though 
it  were  surrounded  by  a  Chinese  wall. 

The  St.  Louis  Globe  Democrat  contained  full  reports  of 
the  proceedings  in  committee  and  from  these  (June  26  to 
July  9,  1894)  the  following  paragraphs  are  culled : 

The  harbor  contest  at  Los  Angeles  waxes  warmer.  C. 
P.  Huntington  was  seen  going  the  rounds  of  the  hotels  to- 
day, and  although  it  was  Sunday,  he  made  no  halt  in  but- 
tonholing Senators.  Four  days  ago  there  was  a  decided  ma- 
jority in  the  Commerce  Committee  in  favor  of  following  the 
wishes  of  the  two  Senators  from  California,  but  since  the 
arrival  of  Mr.  Huntington  at  the  capital  it  is  now  a  matter 
of  great  doubt  where  the  majority  will  be  found.  There  is 
serious  speculation  in  the  minds  of  many  people  as  to  the 
means  Mr.  Huntington  may  have  used  to  bring  about  this 
change. 

For  three  hours  the  battle  of  San  Pedro  against  Santa 
Monica  for  government  recognition  as  the  Los  Angeles  har- 
bor waged  to-day  in  the  room  of  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Commerce.  Huntington,  the  Southern  Pacific  magnate, 
paced  the  corridors,  and  asked  anxiously  after  news,  when- 
ever any  one  came  out  of  the  committee  room,  and  betrayed 
a  degree  of  nervousness  wholly  unusual  to  him.  Ordinarily 
Mr.  Huntington  is  philosophical  and  composed.  To-day  he 
was  "rattled"  as  no  one  remembers  to  have  seen  him,  in  his 
many  visits  to  the  capital. 

One  of  a  series  of  telegrams,  from  J.  W.  Reinhart,  presi- 
dent of  the  Santa  Fe,  to  Mr.  R.  C.  Kerens,  shows  how  much 
is  at  stake  in  this  contest :  "Atchison  is  too  much  inter- 
ested with  its  $500,000,000  of  property,  to  permit  it  to  be 
held  out  of  Pacific  ocean  business  by  the  Southern  Pacific, 
whose  prayer,  if  granted,  would  shut  out  Atchison  and 
create  absolute  monopoly.  Atchison  is  the  only  railway 
line,  other  than  the  Southern  Pacific,  reaching  Southern 
California.  If  the  appropriation  goes  to  Huntington,  it 
throttles  all  chances  of  competition,  besides  permanently  in- 
juring the  growth  of  California  and  adjacent  States  and  Ter- 
ritories." 

Mr.  Huntington' s  chief  supporters  in  the  committee  were 
Frye  of  Maine,  Jones  of  Nevada,  Dolph  of  Oregon  and  the 
Chairman,  Ransom  of  North  Carolina,  who  had  unexpectedly 
changed  from  being  a  San  Pedro  advocate  to  a  warm  ad- 
mirer of  Santa  Monica.  Although  the  issue  did  not  come  to 


122  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

a  straight-out  vote,  these  gentlemen  all  showed  by  their  ex- 
pressions in  the  debate  that  they  were  entirely  prepared  to 
give  Mr.  Huntington  the  $4,000,000  for  which  he  asked. 
Cullom  of  Illinois,  Berry  of  Arkansas  and  White  of  Cali- 
fornia were  for  San  Pedro  without  reservation  of  any  sort. 
Gorman  of  Maryland  was  a  San  Pedro  man,  who  later 
switched  to  the  other  side.  The  other  members  of  the  com- 
mittee were  either  absent  or  wavering.  The  result  was  a 
drawn  battle. 

A  motion  was  passed  deferring  the  decision  until  the 
next  year,  "in  order,"  so  the  resolution  read,  "to  give  the 
members  of  the  Committee  on  Commerce  an  opportunity 
to  visit  the  two  harbors  and  form  an  opinion  on  their  re- 
spective merits."  No  provision  was  made  for  the  expenses 
of  the  members  of  the  Committee  who  were  to  make  the  trip, 
and  no  definite  time  was  set  for  them  to  go.  It  was  to  be 
"quite  informal."  Mr.  Frye,  who  made  the  motion,  an- 
announced  that  he,  for  one,  did  not  propose  to  go.  Why 
should  he?  Had  he  not  looked  at  both  harbors  some  years 
ago,  and  determined  then  and  there  that  Santa  Monica  was 
the  better  ? 

This  was  the  so-called  "Senatorial  Commission,"  which 
was  to  effect  another  "final  settlement,"  and  which  never 
came.  The  fight  over  the  Wilson  bill  kept  Congress  in  ses- 
sion all  through  the  summer.  In  the  brief  autumnal  recess 
Mr.  Cullom  visited  Los  Angeles,  inspected  the  harbors,  at- 
tended a  reception  given  him  by  the  Illinois  people,  talked 
discreetly  on  the  subject  of  the  contest,  and  then  departed. 
As  a  device  for  gaining  a  year's  time  "to  tire  out  the  people" 
the  Senatorial  Commission  was  decidedly  clever;  otherwise 
it  did  not  amount  to  much.  Grave  doubt  was  expressed  by 
the  irreverent  whether  the  casual  observation  of  the  surface 
of  the  waves  in  a  harbor  by  a  United  States  Senator  should 
be  accepted  as  more  valuable  than  the  practical  investigation 
of  winds,  currents,  soundings  and  borings  made  by  riparian 
experts  and  trained  engineers.  The  people  had  asked  for 
bread,  and  they  had  received  a  stone. 

Up  to  this  time  the  question  had  appeared  but  little  in 
politics;  but  on  the  return  of  Mr.  Gibbon  and  Mr.  Patton,  it 
was  decided,  that  as  the  Congress  was  Democratic,  it  would 
be  advisable  to  secure  expressions  from  representative 


THE  QUESTION  ENTERS  POLITICS.  123 

gatherings  of  that  party  in  favor  of  the  people's  choice  for  a 
harbor  site.  The  County  Democratic  Convention  led  the 
way,  and  was  followed  by  the  Congressional,  District  and 
State  Conventions.  Mr.  Patton  was  nominated  by  the 
Democrats  for  Congress,  and  he  began  to  tell  the  story  of 
San  Pedro  at  every  campaign  meeting  in  the  district. 

The  Republican  County  Convention  and  Congressional 
District  Convention  adopted  resolutions  similar  to  those  of 
the  Democrats,  and  Mr.  James  McLachlan,  who  was  nom- 
inated for  Congress  by  the  Republicans,  announced  himself 
for  San  Pedro  as  against  any  other  location.  Mr.  McLach- 
lan was  elected.  A  Republican  Legislature  was  chosen  which 
elected  George  C.  Perkins  to  the  Senate  to  fill  out  Mr. 
Stanford's  unexpired  term. 

An  important  newspaper  change  is  to  be  noted  as  occurring 
in  1894.  The  Herald  was  sold,  and  passed  into  the  hands  of 
men  who  favored  the  San  Pedro  site.  From  that  time  forth 
it  was  an  ardent  advocate  of  that  location,  and  in  the 
winter  of  1895  it  did  good  service  in  gathering  20,000  names 
on  a  petition  to  Congress. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  FREE  HARBOR  LEAGUE. 

THE  period  of  the  greatest  discouragement  for  the  ad- 
vocates of  San  Pedro  harbor  came  in  the  years  1894 
and  1895,  during  the  life  of  the  53rd  Congress.  The  discov- 
ery which  was  made  in  July,  1894,  that  it  was  quite  possible 
for  Mr.  Huntington  to  secure  a  majority  in  the  congressional 
committees  favoring  his  plan,  in  spite  of  the  decision  of  the 
engineers  against  it,  staggered  the  free  harbor  workers, 
whose  fundamental  doctrine  had  always  been,  that  whatever 
might  be  done  for  San  Pedro,  appropriations  for  the  other 
place  were  out  of  the  range  of  possibility.  Nevertheless,  this 
was  a  period  of  comparative  unanimity  of  sentiment  in  Los 
Angeles.  People  understood  that  it  would  be  a  long  siege, 
and  they  settled  down  to  it  philosophically. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  sent  no  delegate  to  the  second 
session  of  the  53rd  Congress,  which  took  place  in  the  winter 


i24  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

and  spring  of  1895.  Mr.  Gibbon,  who  paid  a  visit  to  Wash- 
ington at  the  opening  of  the  session,  reported  that  nothing 
was  to  be  expected  until  a  change  was  made  in  the  personnel 
of  the  Senate  Commerce  Committee.  The  members  of  that 
committee  having  voted  not  to  act  until  they  had  inspected 
the  harbors,  there  was  no  hope  for  an  appropriation  until 
the  visit  was  made  or  the  committee  changed. 

An  important  piece  of  missionary  work  was,  however,  un- 
dertaken that  winter,  which  served  to  keep  the  issue  alive, 
both  in  Washington  and  in  Los  Angeles,  and  which  led 
finally  to  the  founding  of  a  new  organization,  that  was 
destined  to  play  a  most  important  part  in  the  controversy. 
On  the  suggestion  of  E.  A.  Forrester,  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Supervisors,  a  circular  letter  addressed  to  mem- 
bers of  Congress  was  drawn  up,  describing  the  situation  in 
most  emphatic  language,  and  a  notice  was  then  sent  to  each 
member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  asking  him  whether 
he  had  any  friends  among  the  members  of  the  53rd  Con- 
gress. A  printed  list  of  the  members  of  that  Congress  was 
enclosed.  It  was  striking  evidence  of  the  cosmopolitan 
character  of  the  city,  that  over  200  of  the  600  members  of 
the  Chamber  responded,  and  the  Congressmen,  whom  they 
named,  were  almost  from  every  State  in  the  Union.  More 
than  two-thirds  of  the  members  of  the  Chamber  had  come 
to  Los  Angeles  after  they  had  reached  mature  years  in  some 
other  portion  of  the  Union,  and  the  53rd  Congress  was 
pretty  well  covered  in  the  responses. 

It  was  doubtless  a  matter  of  surprise  to  a  member  from 
some  Ohio  district,  for  example,  to  receive  during  that 
winter,  a  series  of  letters,  one  after  another,  from 
former  fellow-townsmen,  whose  identity  he  had  almost 
forgotten,  all  urging  him  to  make  a  stand  against  an 
iniquitous  scheme  to  "bottle  up"  the  commercial  privileges 
of  Los  Angeles  in  a  harbor  that  was  closed  to  competition. 
There  was  in  each  case  a  short  personal  letter  and  the 
circular. 

The  latter  document  used,  as  has  been  said,  some  very 
strong  language,  and  when  it  was  presented  to  the  Directors 
of  the  Chamber,  and  was  proposed  to  be  sent  out  as  an  official 
document,  objection  was  made  on  the  ground  that  it  was 


A  HARBOR  CIRCULAR.  125 

undiplomatic  and  quite  out  of  keeping  with  the  conservative 
attitude  thus  far  taken  by  that  body  on  the  harbor  issue. 

The  concluding  paragraphs  of  the  circular  are  fairly  in- 
dicative of  its  general  tenor,  and  they  may  be  quoted : 

A  situation  so  extraordinary  and  an  injustice  so  long 
maintained  calls  at  last  for  plain  speech.  The  people  of 
Southern  California  waited  patiently  during  the  first  few 
years  of  this  controversy,  when  it  seemed  that  there  might 
be  an  honest  disagreement  among  the  authorities,  but  now 
that  the  whole  matter  has  been  sifted  to  the  bottom,  and 
resolves  itself  into  a  question  of  how  long  a  crafty  corpora- 
tion can  defraud  the  people  of  their  right  to  a  free  harbor,  we 
shall  hold  back  no  longer,  but  call  upon  every  lover  of  fair 
play  to  help  us  in  this  contest. 

The  people  of  this  section  of  California  are  gathered  to- 
gether from  every  point  of  the  Union,  few  being  natives  of 
this  State.  Americans  by  birth  and  freeman  by  instinct, 
they  refuse  to  submit  to  the  commercial  enthrallment  which 
has  so  long  retarded  the  growth  and  dwarfed  the  energies  of 
San  Francisco  and  Oakland.  The  presence  of  a  competing 
railroad  into  Los  Angeles  has  been  thus  far  a  protection 
against  the  encroachment  of  the  Southern  Pacific  monopoly 
— but  this  will  avail  us  but  little  if  our  water  front  is  to  be 
placed  in  their  hands.  We  appeal,  therefore,  to  our  repre- 
sentatives at  Washington — to  all  our  representatives,  in  the 
sense  that  the  whole  Congress  governs  the  whole  nation — 
that  those  who  are  stealthily  carrying  forward  this  great 
wrong  may  be  called  to  an  open  accounting,  and  that  the 
rights  of  the  people  of  the  southwestern  section  of  the  Union 
may  not  be  deliberately  sacrificed  to  the  private  and  personal 
interests  of  individuals,  and  the  steady  encroachment  of 
a  despotic  corporation. 

The  document  was  finally  sent  out  bearing  the  names  of 
six  well  known  citizens,  who  were  designated  as  a  "harbor 
committee."  They  were  the  following:  John  F.  Humph- 
reys, J.  M.  Elliott,  W.  D.  Woolwine,  J.  R.  Toberman,  M.  T. 
Collins  and  J.  A.  Pirtle. 

Responses  to  this  circular  were  numerous,  and  they  re- 
vealed the  fact  that  a  great  many  members  of  Congress  were 
fully  awake  to  what  was  going  on.  Several  explained  the 


126  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

difficulty  that  must  be  met  in  any  attempt  to  interfere  with 
one  item  in  a  general  appropriation  bill,  on  the  part  of  those 
who  are  not  members  of  the  House  River  and  Harbor  or  the 
Senate  Commerce  Committees.  These  measures,  it  was 
said,  are  prepared  in  committee,  and  each  member  of  the 
House  or  the  Senate  looks  out  for  the  particular  items  that 
concern  his  district.  For  him  to  interfere  with  any  others 
would  be  entirely  against  precedent,  and  might  result  in 
his  losing  those  in  which  he  was  directly  interested.  When 
the  bill  emerges  into  the  general  body,  the  great  majority 
of  the  members  are  prepared  to  vote  for  it  unchanged,  fear- 


L.  w.  BLINN. 

ing  lest,  if  amendments  are  attempted,  the  whole  structure 
may  topple  over.  In  the  House  the  bill  is  rushed  through 
at  a  lightning  rate  of  speed  with  no  opportunity  given  for 
the  considertion  of  special  cases.  The  whole  plan  seemed 
admirably  adapted,  in  fact,  for  putting  through  just  such 
a  plot  as  the  one  which  the  circular  had  outlined. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  had  by  this  time  grown  to  be 
a  large  concern  with  many  and  varied  interests,  and  while  it 
still  remained  faithful  to  the  San  Pedro  idea,  it  could  not 


FORMATION  OF  THE  LEAGUE.  127 

be  expected  to  do  the  active  fighting.  The  attitude  taken  by 
its  officers  in  the  matter  of  the  circular  to  Congressmen, 
while  it  was  accepted  as  entirely  justifiable,  led  to  the  form- 
ing of  a  new  organization,  having  for  its  one  and  only  pur- 
pose the  "securing  of  appropriations  for  a  deep-water  har- 
bor at  San  Pedro,  which  will  be  accessible  to  as  many  rail- 
ways as  may  seek  to  come  to  the  water  front."  The  name 
that  was  adopted  was  the  "Free  Harbor  League,"  which 
constituted  an  argument  in  itself,  or  else,  as  its  opponents 
claimed,  a  vicious  begging  of  the  whole  question.  Its  first 


FERD.  K.  RULE. 


meetings  were  held  during  the  month  of  October,  1895,  at 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  it  made  its  headquarters 
there,  throughout  its  career.  Its  original  promoters  were 
L.  W.  Blinn,  John  F.  Francis,  Chas.  Weir,  W.  D.  Wool- 
wine,  H.  G.  Otis,  Chas.  Forman,  W.  C.  Patterson,  Geo. 
W.  Parsons,  Robert  McGarvin,  Chas.  Forrester,  F.  K.  Rule, 
Geo.  Gephard,  W.  H.  Workman,  Frank  A.  Gibson,  J.  M. 
Elliott,  T.  E.  Gibbon,  Harry  E.  Brook,  C.  D.  Willard,  H. 
Hawgood,  H.  T.  Hazard,  W.  G.  Kerckhoff,  A.  M.  Stephens, 


128 


THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 


N.  Bonfilio  and  W.  B.  Cline.  In  a  short  time  the  rolls  con- 
tained the  names  of  over  300  leading  citizens,  and  the  or- 
ganization was  ready  for  work. 

L.  W.  Blinn,  a  lumber  merchant,  favorably  known  for  his 
public-spirit  was  elected  president,  and  W.  D.  Woolwine, 
a  popular  banker,  was  chosen  secretary.  The  vice-presidents 
were  Col.  H.  G.  Otis  and  John  F.  Francis,  and  of  the  latter 
it  may  be  said  that  he  was,  from  the  beginning,  a  most  in- 
defatigable worker  in  the  cause  —  one  of  those  who  went 


CHARLES  WEIR: 

right  on  with  courage  and  cheerfulness  when  others  were 
disheartened  and  ready  to  give  up.  To  him  fell  the  diffi- 
cult and  rather  ungracious  task  of  raising  funds  to  carry  on 
the  work.  In  this  he  was  assisted  by  Charles  Weir;  and  to- 
gether they  labored  assiduously  until  enough  was  secured 
to  pay  postage  and  printing  expenses  for  the  bureau  of  pub- 
licity which  the  League  maintained,  and  also  to  pay — some- 
time later — the  traveling  expenses  of  several  delegations 
sent  on  to  Washington. 


WORK  OF  THE  LEAGUE.  129 

"When  I  had  argued  with  a  man  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,"  said  Mr.  Francis,  speaking  afterwards  of  this  work, 
"and  succeeded  at  last  in  getting  ten  dollars  out  of  him,  it 
did  look  horribly  small  in  comparison  with  the  many  millions 
that  I  knew  Uncle  Collis*  had  at  his  disposal;  but  I  remem- 
bered that  one  dollar  and  the  right  were  a  whole  lot  bigger 


GEORGE)  W.  PARSONS. 

than  a  million    dollars    and    the    wrong,  and  I  took  fresh 
courage  and  went  to  work  again." 

The  general  membership  of  the  League  was  but  seldom 
summoned -together,  and  when  it  was,  the  fact  must  be  re- 
corded, that  it  pretty  unanimously  failed  to  appear.  This 
led  to  no  little  sarcasm  on  the  part  of  the  Express,  which  was 
still  an  active  Santa  Monica  advocate,  and  that  paper  de- 
clared that  the  League  was  a  humbug,  being  a  name  and 
nothing  more.  This  was  hardly  just — at  least  the  failure  of 
the  members  to  attend  the  meetings  proved  nothing;  for  an 

*  Collis  P.  Huntington  is  generally  called  "Uncle  Collis"  by  the 
people  of  the  Pacific  coast — a  name  which  is  not  bestowed  in  ill-will  but 
rather  with  friendly  satire,  for  the  reason — the  present  writer  supposes — 
that  he  holds  so  large  a  section  of  the  State  of  California  in  pawn. 


i3o  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

executive  committee  had  been  chosen  of  men  of  character 
and  ability  and  known  experience  in  public  work,  and  the 
members  were  satisfied — or  seemed  to  be  satisfied — that  it 
would  transact  the  League's  business  properly. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  when  the  actual  harbor 
campaign  began,  the  League  was  steered  and  managed  by 
a  small  clique  of  veteran  San  Pedro  workers,  and  some 
of  the  taunts  of  the  Express  certainly  struck  home.  The 
same  criticism  may  be  passed,  however,  on  many  public  or- 
ganizations. If  the  League  had  not  been  so  well  steered, 
it  would  not  have  passed  so  successfully  the  many  reefs  that 
lay  waiting  before  it. 

Early  in  1896,  Dr.  Widney  appeared  before  the  Directors 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  narrated  a  conversation 
that  he  had  recently  had  with  Lieut-Col.  W.  H.  H.  Ben- 
yaurd,  of  the  government  engineers,  who  was  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  conditions  at  San  Pedro.  Col.  Benyaurd 
stated  that  he  was  about  to  send  in  a  report  to  the  Secretary 
of  War  with  reference  to  the  possibility  of  deepening  the 
inner  harbor  of  San  Pedro  from  14  to  18  feet*  by  a  small 
amount  of  judicious  dredging.  Dr.  Widney  advised  that 
Col.  Benyaurd  be  questioned  by  the  Chamber  on  this  point, 
and  that  his  forthcoming  report  be  considered  in  formulat- 
ing the  Chamber's  harbor  policy  for  the  winter's  campaign. 

In  response  to  an  inquiry  from  the  chamber,  Col.  Ben- 
yaurd developed  his  project,  which  called  for  an  expenditure 
of  something  under  $400,000,  and  which  would  nearly  double 
the  efficiency  of  the  inner  harbor.  It  would  not  make  a  deep- 
sea  harbor,  for  which  25  to  30  feet  is  required;  but  with  18 
feet  at  low  tide,  a  great  many  first-class  ocean-going  vessels 
could  be  accommodated. 

The  letter  was  put  in  the  hands  of  the  League  managers, 
who  gave  it  serious  consideration;  and  at  last  a  plan  of 
action  was  evolved,  somewhat  different  from  that  which  had 
previously  been  pursued. 

Senator  White  had  written  discouragingly  of  the  situa- 
tion at  Washington,  with  regard  to  appropriations  of  every 
character.  The  treasury  was  drained  of  gold,  and  the  bal- 
ance between  receipts  and  expenditures  was  heavily  against 

*A11  figures  of  harbor  depth  unless  otherwise  specified  are  for  mean 
low  tide. 


A  CHANGE  OF  POLICY.  131 

the  government.  The  Republican  party  had  regained  power 
in  the  House,  and  were  bent  on  a  policy  of  rigid  economy- 
No  money  was  to  be  spent  on  rivers  and  harbors,  except  for 
existing  contracts  and  for  emergencies.  San  Pedro's  case 
would  scarcely  receive  a  decent  hearing. 

Representative  McLachlan  wrote  in  the  same  strain,  and 
the  friends  of  San  Pedro  from  other  States  acquiesed  in  this 
view. 

The  suggestion  of  Col.  Benyaurd  seemed  to  have  arrived 
pat  on  the  moment.  To  ask  for  an  appropriation  for  a  deep- 
sea  harbor  at  such  a  time  was  a  waste  of  energy,  and  might 
be  construed  as  unreasonable,  and  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
cause.  Would  it  not  be  well,  so  the  League  committee 
argued,  merely  to  ask  for  an  appropriation  for  the  inner  har- 
bor this  year,  and,  while  reaffirming  confidence  in  the  outer 
harbor  plan,  defer  all  action  upon  it  until  another  year  ? 

Against  this  it  was  argued  that  to  lay  aside  the  outer  har- 
bor demand  might  be  construed  as  an  abandonment  of  that 
part  of  the  issue;  but  on  the  other  side  again  it  was  said  that, 
as  there  was  not  the  slightest  chance  that  anything  could 
be  done  for  Santa  Monica  in  this  session,  the  deep-water 
issue  would  not  be  broached  at  all,  and  could  be  taken  up  with 
renewed  vigor  next  year,  when  the  government  was  more 
disposed  to  consider  harbor  work.  This  additional  argu- 
ment was  offered :  that  every  dollar  spent  on  the  inside  har- 
bor helped  to  strengthen  the  government's  interest  in  that 
port,  rendering  it  less  liable  to  be  deserted  for  another. 

One  evening,  when  this  topic  was  under  informal  dis- 
cussion in  a  little  gathering  of  League  members,  the  sug- 
gestion was  thrown  out  that  perhaps  Mr.  Huntington  was 
becoming  quite  as  tired  of  the  fight  as  the  Los  Angeles 
people  were,  and  that  an  armistice  for  the  season  might 
appeal  to  him  most  favorably.  One  member  of  the 
party  was  delegated  to  investigate  and  find  out 
how  the  land  lay  in  that  direction,  he  being  on 
very  good  terms  with  one  of  Mr.  Hunting-ton's  local 
representatives.  When  this  representative  was  appealed 
to,  he  declared  his  belief  that  the  Southern  Pacific  president 
would  not  only  refrain  from  interfering  with  any  attempt 
on  the  part  of  the  League  to  secure  an  appropriation  for  San 
Pedro,  in  accordance  with  the  Benyaurd  project,  but  would 


132  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

even  lend  his  powerful  assistance.  However,  he  would  take 
the  matter  up  with  Mr.  Huntington,  and  return  an  answer 
in  two  or  three  weeks. 

In  just  about  the  time  that  is  required  to  send  a  letter  from 
Los  Angeles  to  New  York  and  get  a  response,  the  answer 
was  given.  Nobody  was  to  be  quoted  as  actually  promising 
anything;  it  was  all  unofficial  and  confidential — but  the 
League  might  go  right  ahead;  the  track  was  clear. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
THE  TRAP  is  SPRUNG. 

WHETHER  it  would  add  materially  to  the  interest 
of  the  story  or  not,  it  would  certainly  bring 
this  narration  better  into  line  with  dramatic  unities, 
if  it  were  possible  to  say  that  the  armistice  proposed 
by  the  League,  and  the  seeming  abandonment  of  the 
outer  harbor  idea,  was  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
a  handsome  piece  of  finesse,  intended  for  the  purpose 
of  drawing  Mr.  Huntington's  highest  cards  without 
showing  San  Pedro's  hand  in  return;  unfortunately,  how- 
ever, for  the  artistic  quality  of  the  harbor  story,  this  was 
not  the  case.  It  was,  after  all,  a  chance  shot  that  brought 
down  the  game.  Regarded  from  the  point  of  view  of  pol- 
itics and  warfare,  the  course  adopted  by  the  League  was 
very  near  to  a  bad  blunder.  There  was  a  time  coming  pres- 
ently when  the  League  was  to  be  denounced  by  many  of  the 
old  harbor  workers,  as  a  choice  collection  of  mischief 
makers  and  simpletons.  They  had  trusted  a  man,  so  the  in- 
dictment against  them  went,  who  had  repeatedly  broken  his 
promises  before  in  the  San  Pedro  matter,  and  who,  from  his 
record  in  all  such  transactions,  was  entitled  to  nobody's  con- 
fidence. They  had  put  a  taint  of  insincerity  into  the  whole 
San  Pedro  cause;  they  had  offered  to  bargain  away  the  old 
pledge  of  a  "free  harbor"  for  a  few  hundred  thousands  of 
immediate  appropriation. 

.  Finis  coronat  opus.  It  is  the  final  outcome  that  tells  the 
story.  The  League  was  damned  most  unanimously  by  the 
Santa  Monica  advocates,  because  it  was  for  San  Pedro,  and 


WAS  IT  A  MISTAKE?  133 

it  was  damned  again  by  the  extremists  of  the  San  Pedro 
faction.  As  it  is  of  a  public  man,  so  it  is  of  a  public  or- 
ganization: to  be  denounced  by  the  partisans  at  each  ex- 
treme is  good  evidence  of  a  conservative  policy  that  will  win 
in  the  long  run.  If  the  League  made  a  tactical  error  in  com- 
promising with  Mr.  Huntington,  it  certainly  retrieved  the 
mistake  by  a  splendid  showing  of  courage  and  clear  sight 
later  in  the  battle. 

It  is  only  fair  to  note,  however,  that  the  charge  that  Mr. 
Huntington  broke  his  promise  or  acted  treacherously  in  the 
affair  is  not  in  accord  with  the  facts.  To  begin  with,  the 
understanding  was  informal  and  unofficial  at  both  ends  of 
the  line,  and  the  phraseology  used  was  decidedly  vague. 
There  was  no  promise  on  Mr.  Huntington's  part  that  he 
would  refrain  from  helping  Santa  Monica:  only  that  he 
would  not  interfere  with  the  efforts  of  the  League  to  secure 
an  appropriation  for  the  inside  harbor  at  San  Pedro.  Know- 
ing the  utterly  demoralized  condition  of  public  finances,  the 
members  of  the  League  never  dreamed  for  one  moment  that 
Mr.  Huntington  could  break  into  the  treasury  for  a  $3,000,- 
ooo  appropriation ;  and  no  stipulation  on  that  point  was  ever 
suggested.  Nor  is  it  entirely  just  to  Mr.  Huntington  to  say 
that  he  had  previous  to  this  time  broken  any  pledges  on  the 
San  Pedro  harbor  issue.  Neither  he  nor  any  of  his  people 
had  ever  agreed  in  definite  terms  to  abide  by  the  decision  of 
any  of  the  various  boards  or  commissions.  Of  course  the 
appointment  of  a  board — of  several  boards  in  fact — at  the  re- 
quest of  one  of  the  parties  to  the  controversy,  certainly  im- 
plies that  all — and  particularly  that  one — are  to  accept  the 
result  of  the  arbitration.  There  was  something  like  a  moral 
obligation — but  no  one  expects  corporations  to  be  held  by 
moral  obligations,  in  a  day  when  even  legal  obligations  are 
scarcely  kept  inviolate. 

The  statement  is  sometimes  made  that  there  was  a  dis- 
position on  the  part  of  the  League  to  abandon  the  outer  har- 
bor, but  this  is  not  true.  In  all  its  resolutions,  and  in  its 
memorial,  which  was  addressed  to  Congress  in  February, 
1896,  the  League  declared  its  adherence  to  the  idea  of  a 
deep-water  harbor,  and  explained  that  it  was  only  by  reason 
of  the  depleted  condition  of  the  treasury  that  the  request 
for  an  appropriation  was  limited  to  the  interior  work.  The 


134  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

exact  phraseology  of  the  memorial  is  as  fallows:  "At  pres- 
ent the  people  of  Southern  California,  recognizing  that  in  the 
existing  condition  of  the  nation's  finances,  it  would  be  very 
difficult  to  obtain  an  appropriation  for  the  large  amount 
necessary  for  a  deep-water  outer  harbor,  are  confining  their 
request  to  a  moderate  sum  for  the  completion  of  work  on  the 
inner  harbor.  The  object  of  the  government  engineers  is  to 
secure  there  a  depth  of  eighteen  feet." 

The  exact  amount  specified,  under  the  Benyaurd  estimate, 
is  $392,725. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  League,  February  7th,  Col.  H.  G. 
Otis,  Mr.  W.  G.  Kerckhofr,  Mr.  W.  C.  Patterson  and  Mr. 
W.  D.  Woolwine  were  elected  a  special  delegation  to  pro- 
ceed to  Washington  in  behalf  of  the  League,  and  lay  the  San 
Pedro  case  before  the  River  and  Harbor  Committee  of  the 
House. 

Mr.  James  McLachlan,  the  member  for  the  Sixth  Congres- 
sional district — which  under  the  reapportionment  included 
Los  Angeles  county  and  a  tier  of  coast  counties  running 
northward  to  Monterey — was  an  able  lawyer,  who  had 
served  as  District  Attorney,  and  had  been  actively  identified 
with  Republican  politics  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State  for 
a  number  of  years  He  enjoyed,  in  a  high  degree,  the  con- 
fidence and  good-will  of  his  constituents,  and  his  outlook 
for  future  political  favors  was  excellent.  The  feeling  was 
general  in  the  district  that  great  loss  had  already  been  suf- 
fered in  the  frequent  changes  of  representatives,  and  Mr. 
McLachlan  was  regarded  as  a  probable  permanency.  But 
the  harbor  question,  which  played  havoc  in  so  many  direc- 
tions, was  destined  to  interfere  most  seriously  with  this  plan. 

The  Chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on  Rivers  and 
Harbors  was  Mr.  Warren  B.  Hooker,  of  Fredonia,  New 
York.  He  professed  great  interest  in  the  San  Pedro  matter, 
and  a  time  was  set  on  the  I7th  of  February  for  the  hearing 
of  the  delegation.  Mr.  Binger  Hermann,  of  Oregon,  an  in- 
fluential member  of  the  committee,  and  Chairman  of  the 
sub-committee  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  showed  much  consid- 
eration to  the  League  delegates,  and  on  their  departure  as- 
sured them  that  he  was  confident  their  prayer  would  be 
granted. 

Mr.  McLachlan  made  the  principal  talk  before  the  com- 


A  MYSTERIOUS  PROCEEDING.  135 

mittee,  and  explained  that,  while  there  was  no  disposition  on 
the  part  of  the  citizens  of  Los  Angeles  to  abandon  the  idea 
of  an  outer  deep-water  harbor,  it  had  been  thought  best, 
owing  to  the  condition  of  the  treasury,  to  ask  only  for  the 
small  appropriation  for  the  Benyaurd  project  in  the  inner 
harbor.  There  was  no  Santa  Monica-San  Pedro  discussion 
— the  controversial  features  were  ignored.  The  delegates 
were  heard,  and  the  committee  took  the  matter  under  ad- 
visement. 

Proceedings  before  the  committees  on  the  River  and 
Harbor  Bill  are  supposed  to  be  entirely  secret;  nevertheless 
word  was  brought  to  Mr.  McLachlan  a  few  days  later  that 
Mr.  Huntington  had  been  before  the  Senate  Commerce 
Committee  in  person  and  had  put  in  a  demand  for  $3,000,- 
ooo  for  Santa  Monica. 

"What  does  that  mean?"  Mr.  McLachlan  asked  of  several 
members  of  the  committee.  They  seemed  to  regard  it  as  a 
matter  of  no  consequence.  The  demand  for  San  Pedro 
had  come  from  both  Senators  and  all  the  representatives 
of  the  State,  and  was  backed  up  by  the  representative  com- 
mercial bodies,  and  was  in  accordance  with  the  report  of 
the  engineering  authorities  of  the  government.  The  demand 
for  Santa  Monica  was  simply  from  Mr.  Huntington.  More- 
over, the  San  Pedro  amount  was  reasonable  and  possible, 
that  for  Santa  Monica  was  preposterous  and  not  to  be  con- 
sidered. 

Not  entirely  satisfied  with  the  reasoning,  and  desirous 
of  covering  every  loophole,  Mr.  McLachlan  appealed  di- 
rectly to  Mr.  Hermann,  and  asked  if  anything  was  likely 
to  be  done  for  a  deep-water  harbor  near  Los  Angeles.  "If 
there  is,"  said  he,  "the  people  of  my  district  wish  it  to  go  to 
San  Pedro." 

To  which  Mr.  Hermann  returned  answer  that  no  appro- 
priation would  be  made  for  an  outside  harbor  that  session. 
He  was  very  clear  and  emphatic  in  his  declaration. 

Now,  just  about  that  same  time  Mr.  Hermann  was  writ- 
ing to  Mr.  Patterson  the  letter  that  revealed  the  whole  plot. 
Evidently  when  Mr.  Hermann  wrote,  March  16,  1896,  he 
supposed  that  the  bill  would  have  emerged  from  the  com- 
mittee before  the  letter  was  received  in  Los  Angeles.  Some 
miscalculation  with  reference  to  a  New  England  coast  item 


136  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

made  a  temporary  adjournment  of  the  committee  necessary, 
and  the  bill  did  not  come  before  the  House  until  April  6th. 

Mr.  Hermann's  letter  is  such  a  politico-literary  master- 
piece, that  it  deserves  to  be  reproduced  in  full : 

Dear  Mr.  Patterson :  Your  much  valued  favor  is  at  hand. 
I  congratulate  you  on  your  safe  arrival  back  to  the  land  of 
sunshine  and  flowers,  and  to  the  bosom  of  your  family. 

I  wish  to  express  to  you  my  deepest  obligation  for  the 
honor  you  have  done  me  in  your  Chillicothe  interview,  and 
in  your  Los  Angeles  interview.  Your  personal  reference 
to  myself  convinces  me  that  I  possess  your  confidence  and 
esteem.  I  shall  endeavor  in  future  acquaintance  not  to  dis- 
appoint you.  In  one  respect  you  shall  not  be  deceived — 
I  shall  prove  loyal  to  San  Pedro  Harbor.  My  position  here 
since  meeting  yourself,  Col.  Otis  and  your  other  compan- 
ions, has  been  directly  at  work  to  secure  for  San  Pedro  the 
recognition  it  merits.  Your  county  should  have  both  great 
works — San  Pedro  and  Santa  Monica — and  later  on  as  I  so 
strongly  suggested  to  you,  a  project  for  a  still  deeper  draft 
should  be  insisted  on  for  San  Pedro.  In  this  age  of  rivalry 
for  deeper  draft  ships,  and  hence  for  correspondingly  deeper 
water,  no  port  can  long  retain  its  ascendancy,  unless  it  con- 
stantly keeps  in  view  the  essential  requisite  of  increasing  its 
channel  depths. 

At  this  hour,  I  have  succeeded  in  securing  for  San  Pedro 
the  contract  system,  which  means  the  securing  immediately 
of  the  entire  $392,000  through  contract,  and  the  prompt 
completion  of  the  whole  project. 

This  is  a  great  victory.  Santa  Monica  secures  the  same 
advantage;  the  amount  for  completion,  however,  is  much 
larger.  We  have  placed  about  25  of  the  important 
water  ways  of  our  nation  under  this  system,  and  California 
receives  two  of  these. 

In  three  days  we  shall  report  our  bill.  Of  course  some 
event  may  happen  by  which  we  may  suffer  the  loss  of  the 
items  now  contained  in  the  bill,  but  I  think  we  shall  hold 
them.  If  one  goes,  the  other  must  take  the  same  course. 
I,  for  one,  desire  to  bring  to  a  close  the  antagonism  between 
your  two  harbors,  which  has  grown  out  of  the  apprehension 
that  one  place  might  be  recognized  by  the  government  to 
the  discrimination  of  the  other.  I  wish  that  both  shall  have 
the  same  friendly  treatment  to  the  full  extent  of  the  maxi- 
mum estimates  for  both. 

As  soon  as  I  shall  be  permitted  to  give  publicity  to  the 


THE  HERMANN  LETTER. 


137 


items  of  the  bill,  I  shall  be  the  first  to  telegraph  Col.  Otis  of 
the  result. 

Again  thanking  you  for  your  many  kind  attentions,  and 
for  the  trouble  taken  in  mailing  me  the  newspapers  with  per- 
sonal references,  and  in  hopes  that  I  shall  have  the  pleasure 
of  meeting  and  greeting  you  ere  long  under  your  own  vine 
and  fig  tree,  I  am,  with  sincerest  regards, 

Sincerely  yours, 

BINGER  HERMANN. 

There  is  so  much  delicate  humor  in  this  production,  that 
one  is  compelled  to  believe  the  Honorable  Binger  Hermann 
must  have  greatly  enjoyed  the  process  of  inditing  it.  "In 


w.  D.  WOOI/WINE. 


one  respect  you  shall  not  be  deceived,"  says  he,  mindful 
doubtless  of  the  many  conversations  which  he  and  Mr.  Pat- 
terson had  had,  during  which  there  was  not  a  whisper  of  the 
possibility  of  giving  a  deep-water  harbor  to  any  place  in  the 
vicinity  of  Los  Angeles.  His  exclusive  reference  to  this  "one 


138  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

respect"  indicates  that  in  Mr.  Hermann's  mind  there  was 
the  thought  of  various  other  respects.  "Of  course,"  he  ob- 
serves with  sinister  suavity,  "some  event  may  happen  by 
which  we  may  suffer  the  loss  of  the  items.  If  one  goes  the 
other  must  take  the  same  course."  Reading  between  the 
lines  is  here  an  easy  task.  Any  protest  against  Mr.  Hunt- 
ington's  plan  meant  for  the  people  the  loss  of  all  they  had 
asked. 

Probably  no  letter,  carried  by  the  United  States  mail  over 
the  borders  of  Los  Angeles  county,  ever  brought  a  larger 
quantity  of  astonishment  than  this.  Through  the  whole  of 
the  harbor  discussion,  there  had  been  a  few  affable  com- 
promisers, who  were  in  favor  of  "both  harbors."  Their 
theory  of  the  proper  thing  to  do  was  that  the  people  should 
ask  the  government  to  build  a  deep-water  harbor  at  Santa 
Monica  because  Mr.  Huntington  wished  it  there,  and  an  an- 
other at  San  Pedro  for  competing  commerce.  These  people 
were  regarded  as  the  prize  idiots  of  the  whole  collection.  To 
assume  that  the  government  would  be  willing  even  to  con- 
sider the  construction  to  two  harbors  within  twenty  miles  of 
each  other  on  a  coast  that  had  no  harbors  at  all  for  600 
miles,  for  a  scattered  population  of  200,000  people  in  a  semi- 
desert  and  distant  corner  of  the  Union,  was  too  preposterous 
to  waste  time  in  discussing.  And  yet,  according  to  Mr.  Her- 
mann, the  House  Committee  on  Rivers  and  Harbors  were 
prepared  to  take  that  step — if  it  could  be  done  quietly  and 
without  objection.  But  if  one  item  was  thrown  out,  the  other 
must  go. 

A  meeting  of  the  League  was  hastily  summoned,  and  the 
Hermann  letter  was  laid  before  the  gathering.  These  men 
were  not  merely  the  representatives  of  a  commercial  interest, 
they  were  American  citizens  as  well ;  and  the  enormity  of  the 
scheme  in  which  they  were  asked  to  serve  as  partners  struck 
them  with  horror.  The  thing  seemed  incredible,  and  some 
who  were  present  declared  that  it  was  only  a  trick.  Gen. 
Forman,  for  example,  stated  his  belief  that  Mr.  Hermann 
was  merely  "trying  it  on,"  to  see  how  such  a  plan  would  be 
received.  He  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  letter, 
which  was  now  eight  days  old,  stated  the  bill  was  to  be  re- 
ported in  three  days,  while  the  dispatches  from  Washing- 
ton showed  that  the  bill  was  not  reported,  and  was  in- 


THE  LEAGUE  ACTS.  139 

deed  not  expected  for  another  week.  L.  W.  Blinn  counseled 
moderation,  lest  precipitate  action  should  destroy  San 
Pedro's  only  hope.  But  Col.  Otis,  stung  to  anger  by  the 
deception  that  had  been  practiced  upon  the  delegation,  de- 
clared that  the  plot  was  evidently  matured,  and  the  League 
could  not  do  less  than  to  speak  with  frankness.  The  follow- 
ing resolutions  were  offered  by  him  and  adopted  by  a  unani- 
mous vote — so  the  League  minutes  state : 

Resolved,  By  the  Free  Harbor  League  of  Los  Angeles, 
that  we  reaffirm  our  adherence  to  San  Pedro  as  the  true 
and  proper  site — as  the  people's  as  well  as  the  government's 
site — for  further  harbor  improvement,  and  that  we  are  op- 
posed to  all  legislation,  if  any  such  is  contemplated  by  Con- 
gress, inconsistent  with  the  purpose  so  supremely  essential 
to  the  business  interest  and  commercial  advantage  of  South- 
ern California. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  McLachlan,  hearing  a  rumor  that 
Santa  Monica  was  to  receive  a  deep-water  harbor  appropria- 
tion, had  called  upon  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee,  Mr. 
Hooker,  and  was  by  him  assured  that  there  was  "nothing 
in  it"  But  when  the  report  was  all  ready  for  submission  to 
the  House,  and  was  put  in  type  at  the  government  printing 
office,  a  correspondent  of  the  San  Francisco  Examiner  man- 
aged to  secure  proofs  of  the  document,  and  in  a  few  hours 
the  schedule  was  spread  by  telegraph  all  over  the  country; 
and  there  were  the  two  items  in  the  list  of  continuing  con- 
tracts :  San  Pedro  $392,000  and  Santa  Monica  $3,098,000. 
Almost  at  the  same  moment  that  he  saw  a  copy  of  this  list, 
Mr.  McLachlan  received  a  telegram  from  Mr.  Patterson,  in- 
forming him  of  what  Mr.  Hermann  had  written,  and  of  the 
action  of  the  League. 

It  was  early  in  the  morning,  and  the  Los  Angeles  Con- 
gressman hurried  to  Mr.  Hermann's  residence.  The  Ore- 
gon man  was  just  starting  for  the  capitol,  and  they  walked 
down  the  street  together. 

On  the  first  mention  of  a  Santa  Monica  appropriation, 
Mr.  Hermann  began  to  deny  with  some  heat  that  any  such 
grant  was  contemplated,  whereupon  Mr.  McLachlan  pro- 
duced Mr.  Patterson's  telegram. 

Finding  that  his  scheme  to  keep  the  appropriation  a  se- 
cret, until  it  should  be  sprung  in  the  House,  had  suffered  de- 


140  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

feat  through  his  own  premature  betrayal  of  it,  Mr.  Her- 
mann turned  upon  Mr.  McLachlan  in  great  wrath. 

"Yes,"  he  said,  "we  have  given  that  money  to  Santa  Mon- 
ica, and  we  did  not  want  anything  said  about  it,  for  fear 
there  might  be  an  uproar,  and  both  items  would  be  knocked 
out.  Now  do  you  propose  to  make  a  fuss?" 

Mr.  McLachlan  replied  that  he  did. 

"Well,  you  are  by  all  odds  the est  fool  that  the  whole 

State  of  California  ever  sent  to  Congress.  Here 

you  apply  to  us  for  an  appropriation  of  $390,000  for  your 
inside  harbor  at  San  Pedro,  and  you  not  only  get  that  in 
full,  but  you  get  in  addition  over  $3,000,000  more  for  Santa 
Monica,  another  place  in  your  own  district.  There  isn't  a 
man  in  the  whole  House  of  Representatives  that  has  had 
such  handsome  treatment.  And  here,  instead  of  going 
down  on  your  knees  and  thanking  us,  by  — • — ,  for  giving 
you  all  you  ask,  and  even  more,  you  have  the  unspeakable 
effrontery  to  set  up  a  roar." 

"You  don't  understand  the  situation,  Mr.  Hermann,"  said 
the  Los  Angeles  Congressman.  "The  people  of  my  district 
will  never  consent — " 

"The  people  of  your  district  are  a  set  of  idiots  that  don't 
know  when  they  are  well  off,  if  they  can't  take  a  double  ap- 
propriation and  two  harbors,  when  they  have  only  asked  for 
one.  All  right,"  he  continued,  his  voice  rising  higher  as  his 
anger  grew,  "both  those  items  go  out  of  the  bill  now,  do  you 
hear.  If  you  won't  take  Santa  Monica,  you  don't  get  San 
Pedro." 

And  true  to  his  word,  a  few  hours  later,  Mr.  Binger  Her- 
mann rose  in  his  place  in  the  River  and  Harbor  Committee, 
and,  announcing  that  he  had  received  several  telegrams  from 
Los  Angeles,  from  the  Free  Harbor  League  and  from  citi- 
zens there,  against  the  Santa  Monica  appropriation,  and  as 
the  congressman  from  that  district  was  opposed  to  that  ap- 
propriation, he  moved  that  all  sums  set  aside  for  Los  Angeles 
county  be  struck  from  the  bill.  The  motion  carried.  Sub- 
sequently on  the  request  of  Charles  A.  Towne,  a  Minnesota 
representative,  an  appropriation  of  $50,000  for  the  dredg- 
ing of  the  inner  harbor  at  San  Pedro  was  inserted,  and  in 
that  shape  the  bill  went  to  the  House  April  6,  1896. 


CHAPTER    XV. 
THE  DOUBLE  APPROPRIATION  SCHEME. 

THE  harbor  issue  had  now  shifted  to  a  new  phase.  It  was 
no  longer  a  question  of  San  Pedro  or  SantaMonica,  but 
of  a  deep-sea  harbor  for  Santa  Monica  and  a  small  appropri- 
ation for  interior  work  at  San  Pedro,  or  an  alternative  of 
nothing  at  all  for  either  place.  This  proposition  was  so  ex- 
traordinary and  so  unexpected,  that  it  was  not  understood, 
in  all  its  bearings,  on  its  first  presentation.  The  small  con- 
tingent of  perennial  compromisers,  who  had  insisted  from 
the  beginning  that  the  government  should  be  asked  to  con- 
struct both  harbors,  were  promptly  on  hand  with  their  "I 
told  you  so,"  and  the  Santa  Monica  sympathizers  and  the 
railway  adherents  were  jubilant.  But  the  average  citizen, 
who  had  been  disposed  to  favor  San  Pedro  because  it  was 
the  choice  of  the  engineers,  and  to  oppose  the  Port  Los  An- 
geles site,  because  he  believed  it  to  be  entirely  under  South- 
ern Pacific  control,  was  staggered  and  dazed,  and  at  first 
refused  to  believe. 

The  meeting  of  the  League,  when  the  Hermann  letter  was 
considered,  took  place  March  28th.  Six  days  later  came  a 
telegram  from  Representative  McLachlan  to  Mr.  Patterson, 
that  placed  the  issue  in  plain  and  decided  terms  before  the 
community.  This  telegram  was  as  follows: 

"Hermann  requests  me  to  notify  Los  Angeles  Chamber 
of  Commerce  that  if  Los  Angeles  people  will  unite  on 
schemes  to  complete  inside  harbor  at  San  Pedro  and  con- 
struct deep-sea  harbor  at  Santa  Monica,  with  provision  to  ad- 
mit all  railroads  to  Santa  Monica  harbor  over  Southern  Pa- 
cific tracks  by  paying  pro  rata  cost,  to  be  determined  by  Sec- 
retary of  War,  he  believes  an  appropriation  of  $3,000,000 
can  be  secured  this  session  for  said  projects.  To  be  effect- 
ual immediate  action  must  be  taken.  I  leave  matter  with 
you." 

The  proposition  as  to  the  admitting  of  other  railways,  on 
their  payment  of  the  pro  rata  of  cost,  was  not  new,  for  it  had 


i42  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

repeatedly  been  offered  by  the  Southern  Pacific,  as  a"n  answer 
to  the  objection  that  Santa  Monica  was  a  monopoly  harbor. 
On  its  face  this  seemed  a  fair  enough  proposition,  but  it  was 
not  acceptable  to  the  San  Pedro  people,  who  declared  that 
no  plan  could  be  devised  that  would,  in  the  long  run,  protect 
another  road  that  was  entering  the  harbor  over  the  Southern 
Pacific  track  and  through  that  corporation's  own  land.  A 
harbor  with  a  free  water  front  was  better,  so  they  asserted, 
than  one  where  the  rights  of  any  other  road  than  the  one 
owning  the  adjacent  territory  could  be  maintained  only  by 
a  constant  appeal  to  the  law,  in  courts  where  the  Southern 
Pacific  might  perhaps  have  undue  influence. 

The  offer  from  Mr.  Hermann  conveyed  in  his  telegram 
•did  not  differ  materially,  therefore,  from  what  was  darkly 
hinted  in  his  letter  to  Mr.  Patterson.  It  was  interpreted 
by  the  members  of  the  League  to  mean  that  Mr.  Huntington 
had  the  House  Committee  so  completely  under  his  control 
that  he  could  put  in  or  take  out  appropriations  to  suit  his 
whim,  or  could  even  use  an  offer  of  money  for  one  place  as 
a  bribe  to  silence  objection,  while  he  got  what  he  wished  in 
another.  Hence  no  help  for  a  deep-sea  harbor  at  San 
Pedro  was  to  be  expected  from  that  committee. 

There  was  another  conclusion  that  was  hastily  reached 
by  the  League,  as  a  result  of  the  reception  of  the  telegram. 
It  was  that  Mr.  McLachlan  was  no  longer  to  be  depended 
upon,  as  a  friend  of  the  "free  harbor."  If  he  had  not  gone 
completely  over  to  the  enemy,  he  must,  at  least,  so  the  argu- 
ment of  the  League  members  ran,  have  weakened  and  lost 
courage.  A  most  unfortunate  circumstance,  which  told 
against  Mr.  McLachlan  in  the  judgment  even  of  his  friends, 
was  that,  while  Mr.  Patterson  was  reading  the  telegram 
which  had  just  come  from  the  office,  he  was  accosted  by  a 
reporter  from  the  Express,  armed  with  a  copy  of  Mr.  Mc- 
Lachlan's  message,  which  had  been  received  some  time  be- 
fore; and  ere  Mr.  Patterson  could  leave  his  business  office  to 
go  up  to  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  he  was  called  to  the 
telephone  by  a  delegation  of  Santa  Monica  residents,  who 
began  to  talk  of  the  telegram,  and  in  response  to  a  question 
from  Mr.  Patterson,  they  stated  that  a  copy  had  been  re- 
ceived some  hours  before  by  the  Southern  Pacific. 

Mr.  McLachlan  offers  what  appears  to  be  a  fair  explana- 


MR.  M'LACHLAN'S  EXPLANATION.  143 

tion  of  all  this,  and  the  fact  that  he  was  to  the  end  of  the 
contest,  a  faithful  supporter  of  the  San  Pedro  deep-water 
plan,  in  spite  of  the  division  which  afterwards  seemed  to 
take  place  in  Los  Angeles,  certainly  entitles  him  to  the  ben- 
efit of  every  doubt.  Mr.  McLachlan's  account  of  the  matter 
is  as  follows :  After  the  River  and  Harbor  Committee  had 
stricken  both  items  from  the  list,  the  $3,098,000  for  Santa 
Monica  and  the  $392,000  for  San  Pedro,  Mr.  Hermann 
sent  for  the  Los  Angeles  Congressman  and  said  to  him: 
"Now  we  have  fixed  this,  so  that  you  can  have  several  days' 
time  in  which  to  consult  your  people  in  Los  Angeles.  This 
is  in  effect  a  new  issue,  on  which  they  have  never  expressed 
themselves  to  you.  They  favored  San  Pedro,  as  against 
Santa  Monica;  but  now  we  are  offering  them  both  or  neither. 
You  have  no  right  to  decide  so  important  a  question,  without 
listening  to  their  views.  Ask  any  of  the  older  members, 
either  in  the  House  or  Senate,  and  they  will  tell  you  you  are 
crazy  if  you  do  so.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  the  rep- 
resentative body  in  Los  Angeles;  it  does  not  stand  for  a 
special  interest  like  that  Free  Harbor  League ;  wire  its  presi- 
dent, and  ask  that  a  vote  be  taken.  I  know  what  their  atti- 
tude will  be  on  the  choice  between  over  $3,000,000  of  money 
to  be  spent  in  their  midst,  or  not  a  cent.  I  haven't  served 
three  terms  of  the  River  and  Harbor  Committee  to  learn 
nothing." 

"You  forget,"  said  Mr.  McLachlan,  "that  my  people  have 
repeatedly  acted  on  the  question  of  a  deep-sea  harbor  at 
Santa  Monica  or  San  Pedro.  This  little  appropriation  for 
the  San  Pedro  inner  harbor  cuts  no  figure  in  that  issue." 

"Wasn't  that  little  appropriation,  as  you  call  it,  all  your 
people — your  Free  Harbor  people — ever  asked  of  us  ?  How- 
ever," continued  Mr.  Hermann,  his  wrath  beginning  to  rise, 
"if  you  want  to  make  a  fool  of  yourself  and  all  your  con- 
stituents, it  is  no  affair  of  mine.  I  have  done  my  duty  in 
the  matter." 

Full  of  doubt  and  apprehension,  Mr.  McLachlan  went 
over  to  the  Senate,  and  consulted  with  the  two  Senators 
from  California.  They  both  advised  that  Mr.  Hermann's 
message  be  conveyed  to  the  people  of  Los  Angeles.  It 
is,  indeed,  difficult  to  see  how  they  could  have  advised 
otherwise.  The  people  are  not  children,  and  they  are  en- 


144  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

titled  to  know  what  is  going  on  among  their  representatives, 
and  to  offer  their  views  in  the  matter.  As  to  whether  their 
representatives  are  to  be  thereafter  straightway  bound  by 
that  expression  is  another  question.  The  experiences  of  Mr. 
McLachlan  and  Senators  White  and  Perkins  in  the  harbor 
contest  exemplify  the  difficulties  that  attend  the  setting  up 
of  any  hard  and  fast  rule.  We  may  admit  that  the  vox 
populi  is  the  vox  dei;  but  the  question  still  remains  open  as 
to  how  the  true  vox  populi  is  to  be  had.  The  public  is  in 
one  respect  like  the  monster  that  Stephano  finds  on  Pros- 
pero's  isle,  in  the  "Tempest" :  it  has  more  than  one  voice. 
And  its  utterance  is  not  only  discordant  at  times,  but  it 
varies  as  the  days  change.  That  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
public  sentiment,  and  that  it  does  in  the  long  run  control  pol- 
itics and  other  human  affairs,  and  that  it  ought  to  thus  con- 
trol, no  one  may  doubt — but  the  representative  who  asks 
his  constituents  what  they  think  on  some  particular  question, 
and  who  expects  to  get  back  an  answer  within  a  few  days 
that  is  a  truthful  expression  of  their  views  and  more  valuable 
than  his  own  mature  conclusions,  is  likely  to  receive  a 
severe  shock  to  his  hopes. 

Mr.  McLachlan  returned  answer  to  Mr.  Hermann  that  he 
would  transmit  his  proposition  to  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, and  Mr.  Hermann  presumably  told  Mr.  Huntington; 
for  the  Southern  Pacific  people  in  Los  Angeles  were  in  pos- 
session of  the  facts  even  before  the  telegram  to  Mr.  Patter- 
.son  had  reached  its  destination.  Li  order  that  both  factions 
might  be  informed,  Mr.  McLachlan  sent  a  copy  of  the  tele- 
gram to  Col.  Csborne,  the  editor  of  the  Express,  and  by 
some  chance  the  duplicate  arrived  a  few  minutes  before  the 
original. 

This  was  the  incident  which  caused  the  Democrats  to  be- 
stow upon  Mr.  McLachlan  the  sobriquet  of  "Telegraph 
Jim"  in  the  campaign  that  presently  followed,  and 
which  contributed  in  a  large  measure  to  his  defeat 
then,  and  to  his  failure  to  secure  a  renomination  two 
years  later.  That  the  railroad  had  nothing  to  do 
with  Mr.  McLachlan's  mistake,  if  the  telegram  and  his 
attitude  at  that  time  was  a  mistake,  appears  clear  enough 
now  that  two  campaigns  have  passed,  during  which  he 
has  had  to  contend  with  the  active  opposition  of  the  rail- 


THE  CHAMBER'S  DILEMMA.  145 

way  adherents.  It  was  his  misfortune  at  the  very  thresh- 
old of  his  Congressional  career  to  be  flung  up  against  one 
of  the  hardest  problems  that  ever  beset  a  Congressman.  On 
one  side  lay  huge  appropriations  for  his  district,  and  the 
favor  of  a  powerful  corporation,  and  on  the  other  a  return 
home  with  empty  hands  to  a  angry  and  discouraged  con- 
stituency. The  moral  issues — if  any  such  were  involved — 
were  indistinct  and  far  removed.  It  may  be  easy  now  for 
us  to  decide  what  Mr.  McLachlan  should  have  done;  it  was 


J.  O.  KOEPFLI. 

not  so  easy  then  for  him  to  determine,  at  each  shifting  phase 
of  the  situation,  what  was  best  to  do.  But,  however  good 
his  intentions  may  have  been,  and  however  unjustly  he  may 
have  been  judged,  the  fact  is  that  Mr.  McLachlan's  seat  in 
Congress  was  sacrificed  through  his  apparent  vacillation  on 
the  harbor  question  in  this  eventful  week. 

A  meeting  of  the  directors  of  the  Chamber  took  place  on 
the  day  after  the  telegram  was  received.  In  the  meantime, 
a  special  meeting  of  the  League  had  been  held  and  some 
resolutions  adopted  which  were  in  the  nature  of  a  direct 
reply  to  Mr.  Hermann's  proposition.  They  set  forth  that 


146  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

if  so  large  a  sum  was  available  for  deep-water  harbor  im- 
provement— which  the  League  delegates  had  been  hereto- 
fore assured  was  not  the  case — then  it  should  be  applied  to 
the  outer  harbor  at  San  Pedro,  instead  of  to  Mr.  Hunt- 
ington's  private  port  of  Santa  Monica.  When  the  directors 
of  the  Chamber  met,  Mr.  J.  O.  Koepfli,  who,  besides  being  a 
member  of  that  board,  was  also  president  of  the  Merchants 
Association,  offered  some  emphatic  resolutions  covering  the 
same  ground  as  those  passed  by  the  League.  A  number 
of  members  of  the  Chamber  were  waiting  in  the  anterooms 
to  learn  what  action  the  board  would  take,  and  the  threat 
was  heard  that  if  anything  was  done  to  interfere  with  the 
Santa  Monica  appropriation,  a  general  meeting  of  the  mem- 
bers would  be  summoned,  just  as  in  1894.  Desirous  of 
avoiding  this,  which  might  at  such  a  time  of  general  excite- 
ment prove  injurious  both  to  the  chamber  and  to  the  cause  of 
San  Pedro,  Mr.  Patterson  advised  a  more  moderate  course. 
A  brief  resolution  was  framed,  declaring  that  the  chamber 
stood  by  its  past  record  in  favor  of  a  deep-water  harbor  at 
San  Pedro  ~in  preference  to  any  other  site.  There  was  a 
sharp  fight — for  the  "San  Pedro  or  nothing"  men,  as  they 
were  called,  were  not  disposed  to  yield;  but  the  Koepfli 
resolution  was  voted  down  and  the  other  passed. 

When  the  news  of  the  action  of  the  board  was  conveyed 
to  the  ouside  rooms,  the  Santa  Monica  adherents  declared 
themselves  dissatisfied  with  the  so-called  compromise,  and 
promptly  drew  up  and  signed  the  petition  for  a  general 
meeting.  As  the  Washington  dispatches  indicated  that  the 
committee  would  report  the  bill  within  four  days,  the  petition 
set  a  date  for  the  meeting  prior  to  that  time,  so  that  its  de- 
cision could  be  conveyed  to  the  House  and  perhaps  affect  the 
action  of  that  body. 

This  new  phase  of  the  long  harbor  controversy,  the 
"double  appropriation"  idea  had  roused  the  community 
of  Los  Angeles  to  the  highest  pitch  of  excitement.  To 
one  faction  it  represented  the  ruin  of  the  hopes  and  efforts 
of  many  years;  to  another  faction  it  was  the  fruition  of 
all  that  had  ever  been  dreamed;  and  to  the  great  body 
of  the  people  it  was  a  new  and  complicated  question 
on  which  they  were  asked  to  decide  with  most  unseemly 
haste.  The  newspapers  gave  whole  pages  of  space  to 


THE  DISCUSSION  IN  LOS  ANGELES.  147 

the  topic  in  every  conceivable  shape:  telegrams  from 
Washington,  interviews  with  citizens,  accounts  of  meet- 
ings, arguments  for  or  against  one  site  or  the  other, 
and  fierce  invectives  against  the  railroad  and  its  supporters, 
or  against  the  folly  of  those  who  would  throw  away  the  prof- 
fered money.  The  uproar  and  confusion  were  so  great,  that 
for  a  time  it  was  quite  impossible  to  tell  which  side  was 
in  the  ascendancy,  but  the  fact  that  the  proposed  meeting 
of  the  Chamber  was  viewed  with  great  apprehension  by  the 
San  Pedro  men,  indicates  that  they  felt  none  too  sure  of 
their  ground.  In  the  long  run,  when  the  sober,  conscien- 
tious judgment  of  the  people  could  be  reached,  they  doubted 
not  it  would  be  recorded  for  the  right,  but  they  dreaded  to 
think  what  this  suddenly  summoned  meeting  might  bring 
forth. 

However,  their  fears  were  superfluous,  for  when  the  call 
for  the  proposed  meeting  was  sent  out  to  the  secretary  of  the 
Chamber,  who  happened  at  the  time  to  be  ill  of  a  fever,  he 
returned  it  with  a  letter  calling  attention  to  certain  provisions 
of  the  constitution  bearing  on  it,  that  would  require  several 
days  for  their  fulfillment.  In  the  meantime  Congress  would 
act.  It  was  a  mere  technicality,  that,  like  Mercutio's  wound, 
was  "neither  as  deep  as  a  well  nor  as  wide  as  a  church  door," 
but  it  served-  The  indignation  of  the  petitioners  was 
great;  but  the  meeting  never  took  place. 

Public  mass  meetings  were  held,  however,  and  resolutions 
were  passed,  representing  both  sides  of  the  controversy.  The 
San  Pedro  meeting  was  held  out  of  doors,  and  was  much 
larger  than  that  held  by  the  Santa  Monica  adherents  in 
Illinois  hall;  but  a  number  of  substantial  business  men  gave 
their  names  and  their  presence  to  the  latter  gathering.  The 
division  of  the  city  was  on  the  whole  very  nearly  equal.  If 
the  San  Pedro  cause  had  the  greater  number,  the  Santa 
Monica  side  possessed  seemingly  the  more  powerful  influ- 
ence. The  city  council  took  action,  and  it  was  for  the 
"double  appropriation,"  and  the  Republican  County  conven- 
tion, and  also  the  Republican  Congressional  district  conven- 
tion that  nominated  Mr.  McLachlan,  passed  resolutions  in 
favor  of  all  the  appropriations  that  could  be  had,  no  matter 
what  locality  might  receive  them.  The  labor  unions  were 
all  for  San  Pedro;  at  least  the  president  and  secretary  of 


148  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

every  union  in  Los  Angeles. signed  telegrams  to  the  Califor- 
nia representatives,  setting  forth  that  the  members  of  their 
respective  organizations  were  opposed  to  the  railroad  and  its 
proposed  monopoly  harbor.  Petitions  for  and  against  the 
proposed  "double  harbor  scheme"  were  circulated,  and  every 
citizen  was  forced  to  take  a  stand  on  one  side  or  the  other. 

The  work  of  circulating  the  petitions  on  the  double  har- 
bor side  fell  into  the  hands  of  an  employee  of  the  Express, 
who  hired  several  irresponsible  individuals  to  gather  names. 
One  of  the  latter  finally  confessed  that  a  large  number  of  the 
signatures  to  the  petitions  were  forgeries.  The  original  pe- 
titions, which  had  been  filed  in  Washington,  were  examined, 
and  the  statement  was  found  to  be  true.  The  Express  peo- 
ple disclaimed  all  knowledge  of  the  transaction,  and,  indeed, 
the  fact  that  among  the  forged  names  were  many  of  the 
most  prominent  League  members  seemed  to  indicate  that  the 
work  was  that  of  some  person  of  very  limited  intelligence. 

The  effect  of  this  disclosure,  however,  was  very  bad  on  the 
"double  harbor"  cause,  for  it  helped  to  a  remarkable  degree 
the  formation  of  public  sentiment  against  that  side  of  the 
controversy.  As  time  went  on,  particularly  in  the  period 
between  the  action  of  the  House,  April  6th,  and  of  the  Sen- 
ate, May  Qth,  the  Santa  Monica  side  lost,  and  the  San  Pedro 
side  gained.  This  was  due  partly  to  the  gradual  awakening 
of  the  people  to  the  full  meaning  of  the  attitude  of  the  House 
Committee,  and  partly  to  the  steady  and  effective  work  done 
by  the  agencies  for  influencing  public  opinion,  the  public 
bodies  and  the  newspapers.  It  was  a  trying  period,  but  Los 
Angeles  stood  the  test  well.  The  double  harbor  bribe  had 
failed  of  its  purpose. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
THE  STRUGGLE  IN  THE  SENATE. 

THE  story  of  the  consideration  of  the  River  and  Harbor 
bill  of  1896  by  the  House  of  Representatives  may  be 
written  almost  as  easily  as  the  treatise  on  snakes  in  Ireland. 
There  was  none.  The  bill  was  offered,  and  the  motion  was 
made  for  its  adoption,  under  the  suspension  of  the  rules.  Such 
a  motion  allows  only  forty  minutes  for  debate,  in  one  minute 


QUICK  WORK.  149 

speeches,  and  a  great  part  of  that  time  is  taken  up  by  the 
reading  of  the  bill.  Mr.  McLachlan  was  allowed  one  min- 
ute, in  which  time  he  made  a  vigorous  objection,  but  with- 
out avail,  to  the  treatment  which  his  section  had  received. 
On  the  6th  of  April,  by  a  rising  vote  of  216  to  40,  the  bill 
passed  the  House  and  went  up  to  the  Senate — over  $60,000,- 
ooo  of  public  money  ordered  spent  without  fifteen  minutes 
of  discussion  before  the  public !  Of  secret  discussion  and  of 
consideration  in  committee  there  had  been  perhaps  sufficient, 
if  the  negotiations  carried  on  by  Mr.  Hermann  were  fair 
evidence  of  what  that  consideration  was  like. 

On  the  1 6th  of  April  the  Senate  Committee  on  Commerce 
reached  the  San  Pedro-Santa  Monica  matter  and  gave  an 
audience  to  two  delegations  that  had  come  on  from  Los  An- 
geles to  represent  the  conflicting  interests.  The  Santa 
Monica,  or  "double  harbor"  delegation,  as  it  preferred  to  be 
called,  was  made  up  of  Mr.  J.  S.  Slauson,  who  was  a  direc- 
tor in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  a  man  of  wealth  and 
standing  in  the  community,  Mr.  James  B.  Lankershim,  a 
large  property  owner,  and  Mr.  John  W.  Mitchell,  an  attor- 
ney who  was  active  in  Democratic  politics,  and  ex-Senator 
Cornelius  Cole.  The  Free  Harbor  League  was  represented 
by  Mr.  W.  C.  Patterson,  Mr.  Henry  T.  Hazard,  Mr.  Henry 
Hawgood,  an  engineer  of  high  standing,  and  Judge  Albert 
M.  Stephens.  Mr.  Gibbon  accompanied  the  latter  party. 

Considerable  speculation  was  had  over  the  probable  at- 
titude of  Mr.  McLachlan,  for  each  delegation  boasted  that 
he  was  to  appear  before  the  Senate  Committee  in  defense  of 
its  side  of  the  case.  Two  letters  from  the  representative 
to  Col.  Otis  had  been  published,  in  which  he  had  deplored 
the  action  of  the  League  in  opposing  Santa  Monica  and  had 
indicated  a  strong  leaning  toward  the  "double  harbor"  idea. 
He  went*  into  conference  with  both  delegations,  but  kept 
his  own  counsel,  until  the  hearing  was  about  to  begin,  when 
he  linked  his  arm  into  that  of  Mr.  Patterson,  walked  into 
the  committee  room,  and  seated  himself  with  the  Free  Har- 
bor men.  Inasmuch  as  Mr.  McLachlan's  course  in  the  har- 
bor matter  has  been  the  subject  of  some  little  discussion  in 
these  pages,  it  is  perhaps  only  just  that  we  should  reproduce 
here  his  concluding  remarks  before  the  Commerce  Commit- 


i5o  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

tee,  and  with  these  his  connection  with  the  case  comes  to 
an  end. 

"Afterwards,  and  before  the  River  and  Harbor  bill  was 
reported  to  the  House,  it  was  learned  that  the  committee  had 
put  in  the  bill  an  appropriation  for  the  full  amount  that  was 
asked  for  the  inside  harbor  at  San  Pedro,  and  had  also  in- 
cluded an  appropriation  (as  we  were  credibly  informed)  of 
about  $2,800,000  for  the  construction  of  an  outside  harbor 
at  Santa  Monica.  I  am  bound  here  to  state,  as  the  Repre- 
sentative from  that  district,  that  I  never  asked  for  an  appro- 
priation for  Santa  Monica.  We  simply  confined  our  efforts 
to  the  inside  harbor  at  San  Pedro.  And  I  am  in  duty  bound 
to  say,  as  Representative  from  that  district,  coming  fresh 
from  the  people,  that  I  am  not  here  to-day  asking  for  an  ap- 
propriation for  Santa  Monica,  but  that  I  am  here  asking  for 
an  appropriation  to  continue  that  inside  harbor  at  San  Pedro 
according  to  the  plan  of  Colonel  Benyaurd.  And  if  in  the 
wisdom  of  this  committee  it  can  see  its  way  clear  to  give  us 
an  appropriation  for  an  outside  harbor,  I  am  bound,  under 
my  pledges,  to  ask  you  to  give  that  appropriation  for  the 
construction  of  the  outside  wall  or  breakwater  at  San 
Pedro." 

His  position  came  out  even  more  clearly  in  the  cross- 
examination,  as  follows : 

Senator  Elkins.  You  say  that  you  appear  here  to  get  an 
appropriation  for  the  inside  harbor  at  San  Pedro,  and  that 
you  would  like  an  appropriation  for  the  outside  harbor  as 
well. 

Mr.  McLachlan.  All  the  friends  of  San  Pedro  consider 
that  on  account  of  the  economical  tendency  of  this  Congress, 
and  on  account  of  the  condition  of  the  Treasury,  it  would  be 
wise  to  confine  our  efforts  to  getting  an  appropriation  of 
$392,000  for  the  inside  harbor;  but  since  we  discovered  a 
disposition  on  the  part  of  the  House  to  give  more  to  the 
vicinity  of  Los  Angeles,  I  say,  as  a  representative  of  that 
people  coming  here  with  those  pledges,  and  that  if  there  is 
to  be  an  appropriation  for  an  outer'  sea-wall,  I  ask  it  for  the 
beginning  of  the  outer  harbor  at  San  Pedro. 

The  Chairman.  But  you  do  not  expect  an  appropriation 
of  some  $3,000,000  for  Wilmington  harbor  provided  the 
government  continues  to  make  a  deep-sea  harbor  at  San 
Pedro? 

Mr.  McLachlan.     Yes;  because  we  believe  that  one  of  the 


IN  THE  SENATE  COMMITTEE.  151 

;  most  practical  advantages  to  the  deep-sea  harbor  will  be  the 
1  completion  of  the  inside  harbor  at  San  Pedro. 

The  delegates  made  their  presentation  of  the  case,  speak- 
ing in  turn.  Mr.  Patterson  dealt  with  the  commercial  fea- 
tures of  the  matter,  Mr.  Hawgood  with  the  technical,  and 
Mr.  Hazard  and  Judge  Stephens  paid  their  respects  to  Mr. 
Huntington.  The  speakers  on  the  other  side  deplored  the 
attacks  on  Mr.  Huntington,  which  they  declared  had  their 
origin  in  mere  prejudice,  and  said  that  the  conservative,  sub- 
stantial people  of  Los  Angeles  were  utterly  indifferent  what 
site  was  chosen  for  the  harbor,  provided  it  was  built  some- 
where near  that  city. 

There  had  been  a  great  outcry  among  the  party  leaders 
and  by  the  press  of  the  country  generally  against  the  extrav- 
agance of  the  River  and  Harbor  Bill,  as  it  came  from  the 
House.  It  was  supposed  that  the  Senate  would  proceed  to 
cut  it  down,  and  on  that  account  no  one,  outside  of  the  circle 
of  Senators  and  Representatives  who  were  engineering  the 
scheme,  had  any  idea  that  the  $3,000,000  item  would  be 
restored  either  for  Santa  Monica  or  for  San  Pedro.  Mr. 
White  was  hopeful  that  the  $392,000  for  the  inner  harbor 
at  San  Pedro  might  be  put  back  in  the  bill,  but  even  that 
was  doubtful.  It  presently  developed,  however,  that  Mr. 
Huntington' s  influence  in  the  Senate  Committee  on  Com- 
merce was  quite  as  strong  as  it  was  in  the  House  Com- 
mittee on  Rivers  and  Harbors,  or  that  it  covered  at  least 
a  fair  working  majority.  The  expression  "Mr.  Hunting- 
ton's  influence"  is  used  advisedly,  for  the  official  majority 
report  of  the  committee  practically  admits  that  its  action 
was  based  on  that  gentleman's  views  and  wishes.  To  be 
sure,  it  does  not  call  him  by  name,  but  the  meaning  is  clear 
enough. 

Nine  members  of  the  committee,  under  the  leadership  of 
Mr.  Frye,  the  chairman,  voted  to  restore  the  Santa  Monica 
item  of  $3,098,000  to  the  bill;  six  voted  against  it,  and  of 
the  latter  two  were  opposed  to  giving  so  large  an  ap- 
propriation to  any  place  in  that  vicinity,  by  reason 
of  the  depleted  condition  of  public  funds.  Mr.  White 
fought  manfully  against  this  proceeding,  but  to  no 
avail.  Argument  was  useless  where  votes  .were  controlled 
by  outside  forces.  At  last,  failing  in  his  effort  to  divert  the 


152  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

appropriation  for  a  deep-sea  harbor  from  Santa  Monica  to 
San  Pedro,  Mr.  White  proposed  that  a  new  commission 
should  be  appointed,  and  that  its  action  should  be  made  ab- 
solutely final  by  the  device  of  appropriating  the  money  in 
advance  to  go  to  whichever  place  should  receive  the  de- 
cision. He  appealed  to  the  sense  of  fairness,  to  the  honor 
and  decency  of  the  majority  to  grant  this  provision.  "You 
cannot  refuse  so  reasonable  a  demand,"  he  said.  But  they 
did  refuse.  Their  one  and  only  purpose  and  desire  was  to 
give  the  appropriation  to  Mr.  Huntington's  site,  and  they 
were  not  to  be  turned  aside  by  any  form  of  argument  or 
appeal. 

When  the  bill  emerged  from  the  committee,  it  carried 
a  majority  and  a  minority  report.  The  former  was  signed 
by  the  nine  friends  of  Santa  Monica.  They  were :  Frye  of 
Maine,  Gorman  of  Maryland,  Jones  of  Nevada,  Elkins  of 
West  Virginia,  Quay  of  Pennsylvania,  Murphy  of  New 
York,  McMillan  of  Michigan,  McBride  of  Oregon  and 
Squire  of  Wisconsin. 

The  majority  report  on  the  Santa  Monica  item  was  a 
brief  document,  containing  about  150  words.  It  would 
seem  that  a  proposition  so  extraordinary — the  appropria- 
tion of  so  large  a  sum  at  such  a  time  for  a  locality  that  had 
been  ruled  against  by  the  engineering  authorities  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  which  was  opposed  by  all  the  Representa- 
tives from  the  State,  both  the  Senators  and  by  nearly  all 
the  people  of  the  adjacent  district — called  for  a  good 
deal  of  explaining,  but  the  majority  had  very  little  to 
say.  They  could  count  the  votes  in  the  committee  and  Mr. 
Huntington's  lobby  assured  them  that  a  majority  of  the 
Senate  could  be  relied  upon,  and  they  were  content. 

The  report,  therefore,  merely  states  that  a  board  had  been 
appointed  in  1891  which  had  reported  in  favor  of  San 
Pedro,  and  another  in  1893,  which  had  reported  in  favor  of 
San  Pedro.  It  then  proceeds  as  follows,  and  this  language 
which  we  quote  constitutes  practically  all  of  the  report : 

It  was  stoutly  contended  by  persons  having  large  interests 
in  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific  coast  and  familiar  with  the 
local  conditions,  that  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  board 
[°f  '93]  was  erroneous,  that  to  act  in  accordance  with  it 
would  be  a  waste  of  money;  and  in  the  River  and  Harbor 


THE  TWO  REPORTS.  153 

act  of  1894  no  appropriation  for  a  harbor  at  either  place 
was  made. 

While  considering  the  bill  herewith  submitted,  exhaustive 
hearings  were  given  by  your  committee  to  parties  represent- 
ing both  sides  of  this  vexed  question,  including  prominent 
engineers,  both  civil  and  military,  and  a  conclusion  was 
reached,  in  accordance  with  which  a  provision  has  been  in- 
serted for  constructing  a  breakwater  at  Santa  Monica. 

These  "exhaustive  hearings"  to  which  the  committee  re- 
fers and  on  which  it  proposed  to  discredit  the  judgment  of 
the  two  boards  of  army  engineers,  based  on  months  of  study 
and  research,  consisted  in  a  few  speeches  made  by  Los  An- 
geles citizens,  and  the  testimony  of  Messrs.  Hood  and 
Corthell,  Southern  Pacific  engineers ! 

The  minority  report  bore  the  names  of  Nelson  of  Min- 
nesota, Caffery  of  Louisiana,  Pasco  of  Florida,  Vest  of 
Missouri,  Berry  of  Arkansas  and  White  of  California.  It 
is  a  document  which,  if  given  in  full,  would  consume  one- 
third  of  this  volume.  It  covers  the  ground  thoroughly, 
showing  the  iniquity  of  the  proposed  appropriation,  and  sup- 
plying ample  reasons  why,  if  the  money  was  to  be  spent,  it 
should  go  to  San  Pedro. 

When  the  item  was  reached  in  the  Senate  consideration  of 
the  report,  which  occurred  May  8,  1896,  Mr.  White  offered 
an  amendment  striking  out  the  appropriation  for  Santa 
Monica  and  proposing  instead  the  appropriation  of  $3,098,- 
ooo  to  go  either  to  Santa  Monica  or  to  San  Pedro,  as  might 
be  decided  by  a  special  Board  of  Engineers,  one  of  which 
Board  should  be  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Navy,  with 
a  rank  of  not  less  than  commander,  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy,  one  a  member  of  the  Corps  of  En- 
gineers of  the  United  States  Army,  to  be  selected  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  War,  and  one  a  member  of  the  Coast  Geodetic 
Survey,  to  be  selected  by  the  Superintendent  of  the  Survey. 
Provision  was  made  by  the  amendment  that  if  the  decision 
went  to  Santa  Monica : 

"No  expenditure  of  any  part  of  the  money  hereby  appro- 
priated shall  be  made  until  the  Southern  Pacific  Company, 
or  the  owner  or  owners  thereof,  shall  execute  an  agreement 
and  file  the  same  with  the  Secretary  of  War  that  any  rail- 
road company  may  equally  share  with  the  said  owner  or 
owners  in  the  use  of  the  pier  now  constructed  on  the  site  of 


154  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

said  harbor  and  the  approaches  thereto  situated  westerly  of 
the  easterly  entrance  to  the  Santa  Monica  tunnel  upon  pay- 
ing its  proportionate  part  of  the  cost  of  that  portion  of  the 
same  used  by  such  railroad  company  and  its  proportionate 
part  of  the  expense  of  maintenance  of  the  particular  part  of 
said  approaches  and  pier  so  used,  to  be  determined  by  the 
Secretary  of  War  in  case  of  disagreement  between  the 
parties." 

On  this  amendment  Mr.  White  spoke,  consuming  such 
time  as  was  allotted  to  the  consideration  of  the  River  and 
Harbor  Bill,,  during  the  two  days,  May  9th  and  loth.  His 
speech  began  with  the  following  sentences : 

Mr.  President,  the  question  presented  by  the  amendment 
which  I  have  offered,  and  necessarily  involved  in  the  report 
of  the  committee,  is  of  great  local  importance  to  those  whom 
I  in  part  represent,  and  it  is  of  national  importance  on  more 
than  one  account.  In  the  first  place,  the  United  States  are 
necessarily  interested  in  everything  pertaining  to  harbor 
improvements.  This  follows  as  a  matter  of  course.  Then 
the  government  is  also  interested  in  seeing  that  appropria- 
tions made  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  by  means 
of  a  River  and  Harbor  bill  are  made  for  public  purposes, 
and  that  the  diversion  of  the  funds  of  the  government  is 
not  accomplished  through  private  channels  or  for  personal 
ends. 

The  Senator  then  displayed  maps  of  the  two  harbors  and 
the  surrounding  country,  and  gave  a  complete  description  of 
their  physical  features.  He  then  stated  the  issue  as  follows : 

The  questions  before  the  Senate  may  be  summarized  thus : 
First,  is  it  necessary  that  we  should  have  an  outer  harbor  at 
all?  Second,  if  so,should  that  outer  harbor  be  located  at 
San  Pedro  or  should  it  be  fixed  at  Santa  Monica? 

Mr.  President,  if  it  be  conceded  that  the  selection  at  San 
Pedro,  as  contended  by  my  distinguished  nautical  friend  the 
chairman  of  the  committee  [Mr.  Frye],  is  not  well  located, 
and  that  the  government  is  not  warranted  in  making  the 
expenditure  at  that  point,  the  question  still  remains,  will  the 
government  be  justified  in  making  the  expenditure  at  the 
point  designated  in  the  bill? 

Mr.  White  then  told  of  the  appointment  of  the  two  boards 
of  1891  and  1893,  and  summarized  their  reports.  This 


WHITE  ANALYZES  THE  SITUATION.          155 

brought  him  to  the  existing  situation  with  reference  to  the 
$3,000,000  appropriation,  which  he  handled  as  follows: 

I  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  what  I  con- 
sider an  extraordinary  feature  of  the  case — a  peculiar  fea- 
ture of  the  controversy.  It  is  and  would  be  in  any  instance 
rather  singular  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  should 
find  it  necessary  to  make  an  appropriation  of  public  money 
in  the  face  of  the  desire  of  local  representatives,  and  it  is 
almost  impossible  that  such  a  condition  of  things  can  ever 
exist  unless  there  is  some  uncommon  influence  not  usually 
applicable  and  not  generally  brought  into  exercise. 

Let  us  examine  this  situation.  In  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee, from  which  I  have  read  the  general  synopsis,  we 
find  the  following : 

"It  was  stoutly  contended  by  persons  having  large  in- 
terests in  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific  coast  and  familiar 
with  the  local  conditions  that  the  opinion  expressed  by  the 
board  was  erroneous;  that  to  act  in  accordance  with  it 
would  be  a  waste  of  money." 

The  opinions  thus  expressed  were  the  expressions  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  Railroad  Company,  and  that  persistency 
which  has  been  referred  to  has  been  and  is  the  persistency, 
the  potential  persistency,  of  that  company.  I  recognize  the 
right  of  every  man  to  proceed  upon  proper  lines  to  gain  all 
grants  from  Congress  which  his  eloquence  and  skill,  his  ar- 
guments and  persuasion,  may  be  able  to  obtain,  but  I  do  not 
recognize  the  right  of  such  person  to  control  me  without 
some  argument  demonstrating  that  the  appropriation  of  this 
large  amount  of  money  in  defiance  of  official  recommenda- 
tion is  for  the  public  interest. 

Let  me  go  a  step  further  in  the  history  of  this  matter. 
I  desire  the  Senate  and  every  member  of  it  to  understand 
the  situation,  and  so  understanding  it,  if  members  of  this 
body  are  willing  to  take  the  responsibility  of  voting  away 
$3,098,000  it  is  their  affair,  not  mine.  But  I  shall  give  the 
facts  as  I  know  them,  and  I  shall  state  nothing  that  I  do  not 
believe  to  be  true,  and  I  shall  gladly  correct  any  statements 
which  I  may  discover  to  be  unfounded. 

When  the  present  Congress  convened,  the  situation  of  this 
matter  was  briefly  as  I  shall  state  it.  Nothing  had  been 
done  upon  the  report  of  the  Board  of  Engineers  and  no  ap- 
propriation had  been  made.  In  the  meantime  Colonel  Ben- 
yaurd  had  devised  the  project  for  the  improvement  of  the 
inner  harbor  to  which  I  have  referred.  I  called  for  that 


156  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

project,  which  was  filed  away  in  the  War  Department  by 
resolution  which  passed  the  Senate  at  the  close  of  the  last 
session.  The  report  of  Colonel  Benyaurd  was  thereafter 
incorporated  in  the  official  records  of  the  Chief  of  Engineers, 
and  when  the  River  and  Harbor  bill  came  before  the  com- 
mittee of  the  House  for  consideration,  I  appeared  there  and 
so  also  did  my  colleague,  and  the  distinguished  member  of 
the  House  already  referred  to  was  likewise  there.  We  pre- 
sented our  claims  for  the  further  improvement  of  the  inner 
harbor  at  San  Pedro  or  Wilmington — I  use  the  words  in- 
discriminately— the  Benyaurd  project,  against  which  there 
was,  so  far  as  we  knew  or  now  know,  no  disclosed  objection. 

I  stated  there,  as  others  did,  that  in  view  of  the  depleted 
condition  of  the  Treasury,  and  because  we  deemed  it  wholly 
unlikely  that  Congress  would  care  to  embark  in  so  expensive 
a  work  as  a  three-million-dollar  outer  harbor  at  this  time, 
we  should  be  satisfied  if  we  were  given  a  continuing  contract 
for  the  inner  harbor  at  San  Pedro,  involving  the  $392,000. 
We  left.  Nothing  more  was  heard  by  me  of  this  affair  until 
I  learned  indirectly  that  a  provision  had  been  printed  in  the 
draft  of  the  river  and  harbor  bill  for  two  million  eight  hun- 
dred and  odd  thousand  dollars  for  a  harbor  at  Santa  Monica 
or  Port  Los  Angeles,  and  that  $392,000  had  also,  it  was  ru- 
mored, been  appropriated  for  San  Pedro. 

Thus  I  discovered  that  to  some  extent  my  State  occupied 
a  higher  plane  than  that  upon  which  other  Commonwealths 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  treading;  that  while  there  were 
some  who  were  forced  to  solicit  appropriations  and  to  make 
arguments  to  obtain  the  same,  in  my  instance  such  favors 
came  not  only  unsolicited  but  unwanted.  . 

Mr.  Gray.     Thrust  on  you. 

Mr.  White.  However,  a  great  local  disturbance  arose 
in  Los  Angeles.  As  shown  by  the  hearings  printed  by  the 
Committee  on  Commerce,  a  telegram  was  sent  to  Los  An- 
geles stating  that  if  the  people  there  would  unite  they  could 
have  the  inner  harbor  at  San  Pedro,  but  they  must  take  it 
with  the  outer  harbor  at  Santa  Monica. 

Mr.  George.     Who  sent  that  telegram  ? 

Mr.  White.  The  Representative.  I  will  refer  to  the  page 
in  a  moment.  The  result  of  it  all  was  that  the  River  and 
Harbor  Committee  dropped  the  whole  matter,  leaving  only 
an  appropriation  of  $50,000  for  the  inner  harbor  at  San 
Pedro  on  the  Benyaurd  proposition  and  no  continuing  con- 
tract at  all.  Indeed,  my  State  was  not  honored  with  any 
continuing  contract  in  the  bill  as  it  came  to  this  end  of  the 


A  DIFFERENCE  OF  OPINION.  157 

Capitol.     When   the   measure   reached   the   Committee   on 
Commerce  the  fight  was  renewed. 

I  neglected  to  say  that  the  River  and  Harbor  Committee 
had  the  benefit  (not  in  my  presence,  however)  of  the  testi- 
mony of  Messrs.  Corthell  and  Hood,  whose  views  have  been 
published  by  the  House.  The  combat  was  thence  trans- 
ferred to  the  Senate.  Upon  a  day  fixed  by  common  consent 
representatives  from  the  State  of  California  were  brought 
here,  business  men,  persons  of  standing  and  integrity,  who 
represented  both  sides  of  the  question.  Some  of  those 
gentlemen  (and  their  evidence  is  in  the  hearings  here) 
argued  in  favor  of  Santa  Monica  and  some  in  favor  of  San 
Pedro. 

Petitions  were  filed;  telegrams  without  number  were  re- 
cived.  One  of  my  constituents  stated  to  me,  "Let  us  have 
the  appropriation,  even  if  it  is  to  go  to  Arroyo  Seco," 
which  means  "dry  creek."  The  impression  prevailed  in  the 
community  that  there  was  an  opportunity  to  get  $3,000,000, 
and  some  thought  it  was  useless  to  longer  make  a  fight  for 
San  Pedro,  where  the  vast  majority  of  the  people  wanted  the 
harbor.  Sooner  than  lose  the  appropriation  for  the  inner 
harbor,  and  this  large  amount  of  money  promised  to  be  dis- 
bursed in  the  locality,  they  were  willing  to  locate  a  harbor 
anywhere. 

Of  course  that  did  not  represent  the  universal  sentiment. 
I  may  say  the  record  here  shows  a  telegram  signed  by  some 
two  or  three  hundred  of  the  leading  business  men  of  Los  An- 
geles insisting  upon  my  advocacy  of  both  appropriations 
for  San  Pedro.  But  if  I  had  not  received  that  telegram  I 
should  not  have  changed  my  position.  It  caniiot  alter  my 
attitude  standing  here  in  the  discharge  of  a  public  duty 
merely  because  a  vote  of  mine  is  to  prevent  the  expenditure 
of  money  in  my  locality.  If  I  know  that  the  expenditure  is 
not  to  be  made  in  the  public  interest — that  it  is  sought  for  a 
private  purpose — I  will  not  vote  for  it.  Were  I  outside  of 
official  life,  selfishness,  which  dominates  many  of  us,  and  to 
some  extent  influences  us  all,  might  perhaps  lead  me  to  ap- 
plaud an  act  which  would  involve  local  disbursement  of 
such  an  elaborate  sum.  But  I  could  not  find  myself  author- 
ized, and  do  not  deem  myself  empowered,  to  appropriate 
one  cent  unless  I  find  it  to  be  for  a  public  purpose  and  for 
the  public  interest. 

Mr.  White  then  took  up  the  question  of  the  holding 
ground  at  San  Pedro,  and  showed  by  the  testimony  of  over 


158  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

forty  ship  masters  the  fallacy  of  the  objections  that  had  been 
urged  by  Mr.  Hood  and  Mr.  Huntington.  He  discussed  at 
some  length  the  monopoly  feature  of  the  Santa  Monica  site, 
showing  the  difficulty  that  would  beset  other  roads  than 
the  Southern  Pacific,  seeking  an  entrance  to  that  harbor.  He 
also  answered  Mr.  Corthell's  theory  of  the  littoral  currents, 
commenting  quizzically  on  the  intelligent  discrimination  of 
a  current  which  would  carry  sand  to  the  west  while  it  car- 
ried lumber,  coal  and  dead  bodies  to  the  east.  The  conclud- 
ing paragraphs  of  his  speech  are  as  follows : 

Mr.  President,  what  is  the  amendment  which  I  have  in- 
troduced and  upon  which  I  ask  a  vote  ?  What  is  the  propo- 
sition which  I  make  to  the  Senate  regarding  the  subject? 
The  gist  of  the  matter  is  the  making  of  an  appropriation  and 
the  expenditure  of  the  money  at  either  San  Pedro  or  Port 
Los  Angeles,  the  location  to  be  determined  by  a  board  con- 
sisting of  an  officer  of  the  United  States  Navy,  of  rank  not 
less  than  commander,  to  be  appointed  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Navy;  a  member  of  the  Corps  of  Engineers  of  the  United 
States  Army,  to  be  selected  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  a 
member  of  the  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  to  be  selected  by 
the  Superintendent  of  the  Survey. 

Now,  I  ask  those  who  are  disposed  to  be  fair,  who  wish 
this  important  subject  determined  accurately,  what  objection 
can  be  rationally  made  to  this  plan.  An  objection  might, 
indeed,  be  urged  upon  the  part  of  those  who  advocate  San 
Pedro  and  who  are  interested  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment in  the  disbursement  of  public  moneys,  upon  the  ground 
that  two  boards  have  already  reported  against  Santa  Monica, 
and  therefore  it  may  be  said  that  we  are  going  too  far  in 
selecting  a  third  tribunal  when  we  have  two  positive  reports 
made  by  competent  persons.  In  offering  the  amendment  I 
do  not  in  the  slightest  degree  impugn  the  motive,  question 
the  integrity,  or  doubt  the  capacity  of  the  eight  distinguished 
gentlemen  who  have  passed  upon  this  subject.  I  believe 
that  as  to  the  location  of  the  harbor  their  views  are  correct. 
I  have  entire  confidence  in  the  accuracy  of  their  positions, 
but  a  majority  of  the  Commerce  Committee  and  several 
Senators  who  affirm  that  they  have  thought  about  this  sub- 
ject for  seven  or  eight  years  announce  that  the  engineers  are 
wrong;  that  the  boards  are  mistaken;  that  these  eight  im- 
partial, honest  servants  of  the  government  are  all  misin- 
formed; that  among  these  eight  scientific  men  of  integrity 


A  PLEA  FOR  FAIRNESS.  159 

there  was  not  one  competent  to  pass  judgment  or  able  to 
reach  the  true  conclusion. 

Let  me  ask  those,  who  oppose  my  view,  why  object  to  the 
appointment  of  a  skilled  and  unbiased  commission  to  pass 
upon  the  subject  ?  If  he  be  not  satisfied  with  that  which  has 
been  done,  if  it  be  contended  that  the  action  of  previous 
boards  must  be  disregarded,  can  we  not  find  some  one  some- 
where to  whom  we  will  be  willing  to  commit  this  subject? 
Will  Senators  who  have  no  more  knowledge  of  the  situation 
than  that  derived  from  the  cursory  and  scattered  hearings 
before  the  committee  pretend  to  tell  me  that  they  know 
absolutely  and  conclusively  that  these  eight  officers  of  the 
government  were  wrong,  and  that  they  are  so  satisfied  of  this 
that  they  want  no  more  light;  that  the  glorious  radiance 
flashing  from  the  information  which  they  have  received  here 
renders  the  advent  of  other  knowledge  impossible?  That 
the  limit  of  intellectual  absorption  has  been  attained?  Is 
this  the  position?  Will  anyone  admit  that  he  is  unwilling 
to  lay  this  matter  before  a  competent,  impartial  board? 
Yes ;  the  advocates  of  Santa  Monica  must  so  concede.  They 
will  not  consent  to  the  submission  of  their  pretensions  to  any 
person  or  officer.  They  say  in  effect  by  this  refusal  that  no 
board  will  report  in  favor  of  their  location.  They  decline 
to  submit  their  arguments  to  competent  scrutiny.  Why? 
Not  because  they  think  their  success  possible.  They  would 
not  then  refuse.  They  decline,  because — and  there  is  no 
other  deduction  possible  from  their  conduct — they  know 
that  no  impartial  and  competent  tribunal  will  decide  in  their 
favor.  They  fear  fairness. 

Is  the  constitution  of  the  proposed  board  objected  to? 
If  so,  why  not  suggest  improvement  ?  I  and  those  who  are 
contending  in  conjunction  with  me  are  prepared  to  do  that 
which  is  honest  and  equitable.  Is  it  possible  to  form  any 
commission  to  constitute  any  board  to  which  the  majority  of 
the  committee  will  be  willing  to  submit?  Evidently  it  is 
not  possible.  Mr.  President,  you  cannot  find,  you  cannot 
devise,  you  cannot  suggest  any  tribunal,  any  board,  any 
committee,  any  qualified  person  or  persons  to  whom  this 
discretion  will  be  committed  by  my  friends  of  the  opposition. 
They  rest  in  security  upon  the  theory  that  Senators  are 
ready  to  vote  against  the  report  of  the  government  engineers 
and  against  everything  official,  a*re  willing  to  appropriate  in 
the  face  of  authoritative  condemnation,  and  they  do  not 
therefore  propose  to  risk  any  board. 


i6o  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

You  refuse  to  recommit  for  examination;  you  decline  to 
subject  it  to  candid  investigation,  but  it  is  proposed  to  boldly 
overturn  and  cast  aside  the  suggestions  of  those  to  whose 
recommendation  we  should  at  least  award  decent  considera- 
tion, and  to  substitute  therefor  the  conclusions  of  employees 
of  Mr.  Huntington  and  to  enable  them  to  place  at  his  feet  a 
great  winning  made  from  the  government  of  the  United 
States. 

If  the  advocates  of  Santa  Monica  believe  that  they  have 
the  meritorious  side,  then  let  them  face  a  commission  chosen 
upon  impartial  lines.  With  the  judgment  of  such  a  board 
I  shall  be  content.  Until  some  fair,  competent,  and  disinter- 
ested man,  appointed  according  to  law,  has  determined  that 
this  appropriation  is  justifiable,  I  shall  continue  to  oppose  it 
and  raise  my  voice  against  it,  even  though  I  stand  alone. 

Senator  Berry  followed  Mr.  White  in  a  strong  speech, 
devoted  mainly  to  the  expenditure  of  government  money  in 
behalf  of  a  private  interest  without  warrant  from  the  en- 
gineering authorities.  Senator  Vest  spoke,  defining  his  po- 
sition, which  was  in  opposition  to  so  large  an  appropriation 
at  that  time  for  either  site.  Senator  Perkins  delivered  an 
effective  address,  dealing  with  the  navigation  questions  that 
were  involved,  on  which  he  was  specially  competent  to  speak 
by  reason  of  wide  acquaintance  with  the  topic  and  a  long 
personal  experience  as  a  ship  master  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 
His  plea  for  San  Pedro  carried  great  weight. 

The  only  speaker  on  the  Santa  Monica  side  was  Mr.  Frye, 
although  Senator  Stewart  of  Nevada,  in  his  cross-question- 
ing of  Mr.  Perkins,  gave  some  aid  to  that  cause. 

Senator  Frye's  speech  occupied  the  greater  part  of  a  day, 
and  was  an  able  presentation  of  a  rather  awkward  case.  The 
following  passages  will  give  some  idea  of  the  tenor  of  his 
argument : 

Here  (indicating  the  Port  Los  Angeles  location  on  the 
map)  is  the  proposed  breakwater  to  protect  the  ships  in  the 
inside.  It  is  about  a  mile  and  one-third  from  the  shore. 
It  is  about  8400  feet  long.  It  includes  inside  of  it  an  area 
of  about  555  acres  of  deep  water,  which  will  accommodate 
about  222  deep  draft  vessels  at  anchor.  Every  inch  inside  is 
excellent  holding  ground,  being  mud  and  gravel.  It  is  ab- 
solutely protected  by  a  range  of  mountains  over  a  thousand 
feet  high  from  the  north  winds,  the  northeast  and  the  north- 


MR.  FRYE'S  ARGUMENT.  161 

west  winds.  It  is  absolutely  protected  on  the  other  side  by 
the  highlands  from  every  southeast  wind.  The  dangerous 
wind  of  the  Pacific  coast  is  that  from  the  southeast.  There 
is  no  great  fear  of  the  other,  except  occasionally  a  heavy 
southwest  gale.  This  bay  is  absolutely  protected  from  every- 
thing except  the  southwest  wave  line,  as  it  is  called,  and  the 
westerly  winds. 

Somebody  wished  to  know  where  you  could  place  the 
wharf  in  San  Pedro,  and  I  assure  the  Senators  it  is  a  very 


SENATOR  GEORGE  C.  PERKINS. 

serious  question.  Here  is  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad,  "that 
horrible  instrument  of  injury  to  the  country,"  running 
right  along  here  and  out  to  this  point  (indicating).  This  is 
a  very  high  bluff  (indicating),  I  should  say  60  or  70  feet 
high,  rocky  and  perpendicular.  The  waves  of  the  ocean  are 
nearly  all  the  time  dashing  up  against  it  at  the  foot.  Where 
are  you  going  to  put  your  wharves  ?  Where  will  you  locate 


162  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

them?  The  second  Board  of  Engineers  said  that  you 
could  make  a  dozen  in  some  way  or  other — it  would  be  very 
expensive  for  this  railroad — by  running  your  railroad  out 
on  the  breakwater,  and  then  attaching  your  wharves  to  it. 

Now,  is  not  that  conclusive  proof  that  the  second  board 
did  not  know  that  the  southwest  wave  line  accompanied  a 
southeast  shore  wind?  Have  not  Senators  here  seen  the 
power  of  waves  on  the  Pacific  when  they  came  sweeping 
in  across  the  sea  over  water  that  is  300  fathoms  deep  within 
three  miles  from  the  shore  and  strike  that  breakwater  10  feet 
up  out  of  the  water?  How  long  would  a  railroad  track 
stand  on  the  top  of  that  breakwater?  How  long  would  a 
ship  lying  by  the  wharves  stay  there?  Those  waves  would 
break  over  that  breakwater  from  40  to  50  feet  high,  and,  as 
a  woman  would  sweep  with  a  broom  the  dust  from  the 
ground,  sweep  away  your  railroads  and  your  railroad  tracks 
and  completely  submerge  every  vessel  lying  by  the  wharves 
attached  to  the  breakwater.  .  .  .  . 

Now,  to  a  certain  extent  this  is  a  railroad  fight.  The 
Senator  from  Arkansas  (Mr.  Berry)  thinks  it  is  a  fearful 
thing  for  a  Senator  to  be  on  the  side  of  a  great  railroad  and 
a  "greedy  monopoly."  I  have  never  seen  anything  more 
greedy  in  my  experience  than  this  little  Terminal  railroad. 
It  is  about  40  miles  long.  What  is  it  there  for?  It  was 
built  there  after  the  first  report  of  the  Board  of  Engineers. 
Under  the  first  report  of  the  Board  of  Engineers  there  were 
certain  gentlemen  who  thought  they  saw  a  chance  for  a  spec- 
ulation  

There  is  room  at  Santa  Monica  for  twelve  tracks,  for  ten 
more  tracks.  Any  other  railroad  can  get  in  just  as  easily  as 
the  Southern  Pacific  Company  did.  Mr.  Huntington  said 
he  would  build  the  tracks  for  them  for  $10,000  a  mile,  and 
this  bill  provides  that  they  should  use  his  wharf  if  they  desire 
to  do  so 

We  have  heard  talk  about  corruption  and  bribery,  but  in 
this  there  is  more  bribery  from  the  good  feeling  which  ex- 
ists between  Senators  than  from  any  and  every  other  cause 
known  to  man.  I  think  that  we  yield  our  preferences  and 
our  wishes  to  Senators  when  no  amount  of  money  and  no 
amount  of  honor  would  induce  us  to  do  it  under  any  circum- 
stances, and  I  admit  that  I  am  one  of  the  yielding  kind, 
for  while  it  has  been  charged  in  Los  Angeles  that  I  am 
owned  by  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  I  would  rather  have 
the  kindly  regard  of  these  Senators  I  am  addressing,  and 


FRYE'S  VISIT  TO  SAN  PEDRO.  163 

their  confidence,  than  the  support  of  all  the  railroads  and 
railroad  magnates  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  all  the  money 
that  all  of  them  possess.  The  Examiner  said  that  if  I  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  Santa  Monica  adopted  as  a  harbor  my 
pockets  would  be  lined  with  gold,  a  happy  way  they  have  of 
talking  about  public  men,  sir,  in  your  State,  Mr.  White; 
pleasant  and  agreeable  compliments  they  pay  us — a  high  es- 
timate they  make  of  us 

In  my  experience  with  river  and  harbor  bills,  wherever 
a  majority  of  the  committee  wish  to  overrule  the  army  en- 
gineers, that  majority  does  it  without  the  slightest  compunc- 
tion of  conscience. 

A  board  of  army  engineers  made  its  report,  and  I  declare 
that  never  in  a  single  instance  did  the  first  board  of  army  en- 
gineers or  the  second  board  of  army  engineers,  either  one  of 
them,  condemn  Santa  Monica  as  a  harbor,  and  no  condemna- 
tion of  it  can  be  found  in  their  report.  They  simply  ex- 
pressed a  preference  for  San  Pedro  and  gave  their  reasons, 
and  the  most  prominent  reason  was  that  it  was  better  adapted 
to  fortifications  than  was  Santa  Monica 

When  the  report  was  made  to  us  in  our  Committee  of 
Commerce,  we  considered  the  matter,  and  determined  not 
to  appropriate  for  a  harbor  at  San  Pedro  at  that  time. 
Shortly  afterwards  I  went 'out  there.  Now,  the  Senator 
from  California  [Mr.  White]  alluded  to  the  "distinguished 
navigator  from  Maine,"  and  his  visit  to  San  Pedro  some- 
what sarcastically;  but  I'll  forgive  him.  I  will  say,  never- 
theless, I  went  out  there.  I  do  know  something  about  har- 
bors. I  have  common  sense,  I  think ;  what  they  call  in  New 
England  "horse  sense";  and  I  have  looked  over  a  great  many 
harbors  in  my  life.  I  am  able  to  form  a  general  judgment. 
I  think  I  could  tell,  looking  at  that  picture  (indicating), 
which  was  the  better  place  for  a  harbor;  and  I  pity  the  Sen- 
ator who  could  not.  I  went  down  there  on  that  bluff  (indi- 
cating) at  San  Pedro. 

Who  took  me  there?  The  Southern  Pacific  owned  me 
then,  of  course,  because  the  president  of  the  Southern  Pacific 
railroad  took  me  there,  and  he  had  about  a  dozen  of  his 
Southern  Pacific  officers  with  him.  Senator  Stanford  was 
urging  the  necessity  of  an  appropriation,  stating  that  it  was 
vital  to  their  railroad,  that  it  was  vital  to  the  interests  of 
commerce,  that  a  great  commerce  would  spring  up  there  if 
they  only  had  a  safe  harbor.  I  stood  on  that  bluff  (indi- 
cating), about  seventy  feet  high,  the  bluff  running  down 


164  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

straight,  rocky,  and  looked  out  into  this  proposed  harbor. 
About  the  first  question  I  asked  the  Senator — there  was  only 
a  slight  breeze  blowing  that  was  southerly,  and  the  little 
waves  were  rushing  up  against  the  rocky  side  of  this  bluff 
upon  which  I  stood — I  asked  the  Senator  which  was  the 
troublesome  wind  there.  He  said  it  was  the  southeasterly 
wind.  "If  your  bad  wind  is  the  southeasterly  wind,"  I 
said,  "Senator,  how  is  that  harbor,  which  looks  right  into 
the  southeast,  going  to  be  protected  ?  How  are  ships  going 
to  be  protected  ?  Where  are  you  going  to  put  your  wharf  ?" 
He  said  they  were  going  to  put  a  wharf — Senators  can  per- 
haps see  the  little  point  running  out  there  about  half  an  inch 
along  the  right  side  of  that  picture  (indicating) — there,  in- 
side of  that  breakwater.  "But,"  said  I,  "my  dear  Senator, 
that  wharf  will  not  stay  there  at  all.  The  southeast  wind 
will  take  that  wharf  off" — Senators  can  see  the  line  there 
(indicating) — "and  any  vessel  that  lies  there." 

Shortly  afterwards  they  went  to  work  on  that  wharf. 
They  spent  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  building 
it,  and  got  it  out  perhaps  a  hundred  or  a  hundred  and  fifty 
feet,  when  they  concluded  that  it  was  money  thrown  away 
and  gave  it  up.  Whether  I  am  a  "navigator"  or  not,  I  made 
up  my  mind  very  deliberately  then  that  a  safe  harbor  at  San 
Pedro  was  an  impossibility  orf  account  of  the  southeast 
winds 

The  next  day  I  went  up  to  Santa  Monica;  I  think  it  was 
Saturday;  and  for  two  days  I  enjoyed  the  gracious  hospi- 
tality of  one  of  the  pleasantest  homes  which  I  ever  visited  in 
my  life.  The  host  was  so  much  of  a  gentleman  that  he 
never  mentioned  harbor  to  me.  But  on  Sunday,  having 
nothing  to  do,  I  went  prospecting  on  harbor  business.  I 
looked  off  onto  Santa  Monica  bay  right  from  a  high  bluff; 
right  up  here  (indicating).  Here  is  Santa  Monica.  I  was 
right  here  on  this  bluff,  and  looked  out  into  this  beautiful 
bay.  It  was  a  still  day,  and  the  bay  looked  like  a  lake. 
I  thought  I  never  had  seen  in  my  life  a  better  place  made 
by  the  Almighty  for  a  harbor  than  that  was.  It  seemed 
to  be  absolutely  perfect.  No  northeast  wind,  no  north  wind, 
no  southeast  wind,  no  southwest  wind  could  touch  it;  it  was 
a  remarkably  well-protected  resting-place,  and  it  did  not 
need  a  great  expenditure  to  make  it  absolutely  safe,  so  it 
seemed  to  me.  I  have  never  divested  myself  of  that  first 
opinion,  which  I  formed  then,  notwithstanding  the  reports 
of  two  boards  of  army  engineers;  and  the  other  board, 
which  is  proposed  now,  if  it  should  come  to  the  same  con- 


MR.  WHITE  REPLIES.  165 

elusion,  would  leave  me  in  precisely  the  same  spot.  That 
may  seem  like  obstinacy,  but  it  is  a  deep,  well-fixed  judg- 
ment of  my  own. 

Mr.  White's  reply  was  filled  with  good-natured  satire  on 
the  attitude  taken  by  Senator  Frye  as  an  authority  on  navi- 
gation and  harbor  engineering: 

The  Senator  from  Maine,  while  disclaiming  engineering 
attainments,  seems  to  think  that  I  was  reflecting  up  on  him 
in  some  way  when  I  spoke  of  him  as  a  navigator.  I  did 
think  that  the  Senator  from  Maine  was  possessed  of  much 
nautical  knowledge;  but  if  I  was  in  error  I  will  withdraw 
the  remark.  [Laughter.]  But  while  the  Senator  from 
Maine  disclaims  familiarity  with  technical  matters  he  in- 
forms us  that  anyone  can  see  the  conclusive  merits  of  his  ar- 
gument by  a  mere  glance  at  his  map.  Those  of  the  most 
ordinary  intellectual  development  must  see  that  he  is  right. 
This  is  his  faith,  and  he  dots  not  hesitate  to  set  up  his  non- 
professional  judgment  against  those  who  have  been  em- 
ployed by  the  government  to  pass  upon  this  subject.  He 
not  only  relies  upon  himself  against  skilled  authority,  but  he 
tells  us  that  as  there  is  one  chance  in  ten  of  a  decision  in 
favor  of  San  Pedro  he  will  vote  against  the  amendment 
which  I  offer.  This  is  more  conciliation. 

Mr.  President,  the  amendment  which  I  have  advocated 
involves  the  appointing  of  a  commission  of  admittedly  un- 
biased and  impartial  men  to  determine  between  these  two  lo- 
cations— San  Pedro  and  Santa  Monica.  What  is  the  ob- 
jection to  this?  The  Senator  from  Maine  says  that  pos- 
sibly there  might  be  a  decision  for  San  Pedro — only  one 
chance  out  of  ten,  he  declares.  But  this  is  quite  enough. 
No  impartial  experts  who  choose  San  Pedro  can,  according 
to  his  view,  be  relied  on.  No  impartial  or  other  board  for 
him.  What  does  he  want?  He  demands  the  power  to 
personally  solve  this  dispute  his  own  way. 

The  struggle  which  I  have  made  here  may  seem  stubborn 
to  some,  but  it  is  maintained  in  the  consciousness  and  belief 
that  I  am  acting  for  the  public  interest.  No  demagogical 
appeal — notwithstanding  intimations  to  the  contrary — has 
influenced  or  ever  will  influence  me.  I  have  been  as  able 
as  the  Senator  from  Maine  to  maintain  myself  in  my  conser- 
vative methods  without  condescending  to  belittlement.  I 
experience  natural  pride  in  my  presence  here,  but  I  would 
willingly  sacrifice  that  honor  rather  than  yield  my  maturely 
formed  judgment  to  any  senseless  clamor,  to  threats  or 


i66 


THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 


flattery,  to  condemnation  or  applause,  and  I  might  say,  Mr. 
President,  that  I  would  rather  be  a  lawyer  whose  word  was 
as  good  as  the  rich  man's  bond,  and  whose  opinion  upon  an 
intricate  question  of  judicial  science  was  valued  by  the  mas- 
ter minds  of  my  profession,  than  to  hold  in  my  hand  all  the 
honors  that  ever  were  won  by  appeals  to  the  passions  and 
prejudices  of  men. 


UNCLE  COLUS  MEETS  AN  OBSTACLE. 
(Cartoon  in  the  "Times",  March,  1896.) 

As  the  debate  progressed,  occupying  almost  the  entire 
time  of  the  Senate  for  five  days  of  a  busy  session,  a  great 
deal  of  space  was  given  to  the  Santa  Monica- San  Pedro  topic 
by  the  newspapers.  The  leading  journals  of  the  country 


A  COMPROMISE  IS  REACHED.  167 

discussed  the  issue  editorially,  and  it  may  be  added  that  they 
were  unanimously  on  the  San  Pedro  side.  Many  of  the  cor- 
respondents took  an  active  personal  interest  in  the  fight — 
Van  Alstine,  Bierce,  Brown,  Wellman,  McLeod  and  others — 
and  their  reports  were  most  effective  in  holding  indifferent 
votes  in  line  and  demoralizing  the  Santa  Monica  end  of  the 
contest.  Senators  of  the  United  States  are  very  great  men, 
but  they  nevertheless  read  pretty  carefully  the  utterances  of 
the  leading  newspapers,  and  seriously  incline  toward  their 
views.  Every  day  of  the  debate  strengthened  the  San  Pedro 
line,  because  in  the  opinion  of  the  public  generally  that 
side  was  right  and  the  other  wrong.  At  last  the  pressure 
came  too  strong  even  for  Mr.  Frye.  Mr.  White's  repeated 
taunt,  that  he  dare  not  refer  the  question  to  a  competent,  un* 
prejudiced  board,  struck  home.  There  were  frequent  con- 
ferences between  the  Senator  from  Maine  and  Mr.  Hunting- 
ton.  As  various  forms  of  compromises  were  considered  in 
the  committee  Mr.  Frye  went  back  and  forth,  consulting 
first  with  Mr.  Huntington  ("your  principal,"  as  Mr.  White 
spoke  of  him  to  the  Maine  Senator  with  some  contempt,  and 
the  latter  did  not  resent  it)  and  then  with  the  committee, 
until  at  last  an  amendment  was  passed,  which  was  accept- 
able to  all  concerned.  This  called  for  the  appointment  of  a 
board  of  five  engineers,  one  from  the  Navy,  one  from  the 
Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  and  three  from  civil  life,  to  be 
named  by  the  President.  The  $392,000  for  a  continuing 
contract  for  San  Pedro  was  restored  to  the  bill,  of  which 
$100,000  was  appropriated  for  immediate  use. 

The  bill  then  passed  to  conference,  where  it  encountered 
the  unfriendly  inspection  of  Mr.  Hermann,  who  at  first  posi- 
tively refused  to  accept  the  proposed  compromise.  Possibly 
Mr.  Huntington  had  changed  his  mind  about  the  measure, 
and  had  decided  to  oppose  it,  even  after  Mr.  Frye  had  put 
it  forward  with  his  authority,  or  perhaps  Mr.  Hermann  was 
proceeding  on  his  own  volition  to  stand  out  against  any  plan 
that  might  at  last  give  the  money  to  San  Pedro.  It  was 
just  at  the  end  of  the  session.  Both  Houses  had  completed 
their  work,  and  were  waiting  for  the  report  of  the  conferees. 
Several  days  passed,  Congress  meeting  each  day  and  ad- 
journing over  to  the  next.  At  last  it  began  to  leak  out  that 
it  was  the  Santa  Monica-San  Pedro  item  which  was  causing 


168  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

all  the  delay,  and  that  strenuous  efforts  were  being  put  forth 
by  Mr.  Hermann  to  have  it  thrown  out  of  the  bill  entirely. 
Whereupon  Representative  James  G.  Maguire,  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, who  had  been  an  uncompromising  friend  of  San  Pedro 
from  the  very  beginning,  went  to  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee and  threatened  to  call  the  matter  up  in  the  House  the 
next  day,  and  expose  what  was  going  on,  unless  the  com- 
promise was  allowed  to  stand.  This  brought  Mr.  Hermann 
to  terms,  and  the  bill  was  reported  unchanged,  except  for  a 
provision  that  if  the  deep-water  harbor  went  to  San  Pedro  by 
the  decision  of  the  Board,  the  $392,000  was  not  to  be  spent 
there.  In  this  form  the  bill  passed  both  Houses.  It  was 
vetoed  by  President  Cleveland,  on  the  ground  that  the  treas- 
ury was  not  prepared  to  meet  such  enormous  expenditures, 
but  was  promptly  passed  over  his  veto  and  became  a  law. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
ONE  MORE  FINAL  DECISION. 

THERE  was  great  rejoicing  in  Los  Angeles  when  the 
news  came  of  the  passage  of  the  River  and  Harbor 
Bill  containing  the  deep-water  harbor  appropriation,  and 
the  provision  for  the  appointment  of  a  Board  to  designate 
where  the  work  should  be  done.*  When  Senator  White  re- 
turned home  a  few  weeks  later,  a  special  train  went  out  to 
meet  him  containing  several  hundred  of  his  friends  and  ad- 
mirers. The  cars  were  decorated  with  flags  and  flowers,  and 
as  the  train  passed  through  the  neighboring  cities  great 
crowds  were  gathered  at  the  station  to  cheer  the  man  who 
had  made  a  brave  fight  for  the  people,  for  so  it  was  regarded. 
At  Los  Angeles  a  parade  was  formed  to  act  as  Mr.  White's 
escort  from  the  depot  to  a  place  where  a  public  reception  was 
to  take  place.  There  was  no  element  of  political  partisan- 
ship in  the  gathering — indeed,  Republicans  were  more  nu- 
merous and  active  than  Democrats. 

It  might  be  well  to  add  in  this  connection  that  when  Sen- 
ator Perkins  visited  Los  Angeles  some  months  later,  al- 
though it  was  in  the  midst  of  a  Presidential  campaign  and 
his  mission  was  to  make  a  political  speech  on  the  Repub- 
lican side,  a  similar  reception  was  tendered  him,  and  in  this 

*For  full  text  of  the  law,  see  Appendix. 


WAS  IT  TO  BE  FINAL?  169 

the  Democrats  were  given  a  chance  to  reciprocate,  and  they 
accepted  it  handsomely.  The  issue  which  had  so  long  di- 
vided the  people  of  Los  Angeles  was  in  no  sense  a  political 
one,  and  the  conflict  had  been  so  fierce  and  so  determined 
that  an  ordinary  Presidential  campaign  seemed  almost  tame 
in  comparison. 

It  was  a  curious  and  perhaps  significant  fact  that  the  re- 
joicing at  the  outcome  was  chiefly  from  the  San  Pedro  side. 
For  the  fourth  time  now,  the  matter  of  the  harbor  location 
had  been  submitted  to  a  commission  for  "final"  settlement. 
When  Gen.  Alexander  and  Col.  Mendell  had  looked  the 
ground  over  in  1869,  before  the  government  had  expended 
one  dollar  on  a  harbor  for  Los  Angeles,  they  selected  San 
Pedro.  Twenty-one  years  later  they  were  followed  by  a 
Board,  consisting  of  the  army  engineers,  Mendell,  Gillespie 
and  Benyaurd,  who  returned  the  same  verdict.  Then  came 
a  few  years  after  the  Craighill  Board  with  the  same  de- 
cision, and  now  that  a  fourth  body  was  to  go  over  the  ground 
the  people  made  no  question  that  the  result  would  be  the 
same — another  finding  for  San  Pedro.  There  was  this  dif- 
ference, however,  between  the  new  Board  and  its  prede- 
cessors ;  the  latter  had  been  appointed  to  decide  on  a  location 
for  which  Congress  might  or  might  not  make  the  necessary 
appropriation;  but  the  Board  that  was  now  to  be  named 
had  the  money  already  in  hand,  and  was  merely  to  desig- 
nate where  it  was  to  be  spent.  It  seemed  reasonably  certain 
that  this  was  a  form  of  decision  that  must  actually  decide. 

There  were  plenty  of  doubters,  however.  "Uncle  will  con- 
trive some  way  to  open  it  up  again,"  said  they.  "He  never 
would  have  accepted  the  compromise,  unless  there  was  a 
joker  in  it.  White  is  a  clever  fellow,  but  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific has  overreached  him,  as  it  does  everybody."  A  year 
later,  when  Secretary  of  War  Alger  succeeded  in  hanging 
up  the  appropriation  for  nine  months,  these  people  made  the 
most  of  their  chance  to  say,  "I  told  you  so." 

A  more  serious  cause  for  question  lay  in  the  possible  ap- 
pointment on  the  Board  of  men  who  might  be  influenced 
by  other  considerations  than  those  of  the  real  merit  of 
the  contending  sites.  It  was  evident  that  the  appointees  must 
be  men  of  the  highest  character  and  standing,  to  avoid  the 
chance  for  scandal.  An  appropriation  of  $50,000,  or  such 


i  yo  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

part  as  might  be  needed,  for  the  expenses  of  the  Board,  made 
it  possible  to  secure  men  of  eminence  in  the  profession  to  fill 
the  places  that  were  open  to  engineers  from  private  life. 
It  is  difficult,  perhaps  impossible,  for  a  man  to  attain  high 
rank  in  that  profession  without  the  possession  of  a  corre- 
spondingly high  character;  and  there  was  good  reason  to 
believe  that  the  men  who  were  chosen  would  be  above  re- 
proach. 

The  bill  passed  early  in  June,  1896,  and  the  appointments 
were  made  in  the  following  October.  These  were :  From 
the  navy,  Rear  Admiral  John  G.  Walker ;  from  the  coast  sur- 
vey, Augustus  F.  Rodgers,  and  from  civil  life,  appointed  by 
President  Cleveland,  William  H.  Burr,  George  S.  Morrison 
and  Richard  P.  Morgan. 

These  appointments  were  all — save  one — received  with 
satisfaction  and  confidence.  Rear  Admiral  Walker,  who  was 
chairman  of  the  Board,  was  a  man  of  mature  years,  with 
wide  experience  in  navigation  matters,  and  his  character 
was  above  possible  question.  He  has  since  then  served  with 
distinction  at  the  head  of  the  commission  appointed  by  Con- 
gress to  report  on  the  Nicaragua  canal  project.  His  name, 
serving  as  the  title  of  the  board  that  was  now  to  settle  the 
question  of  Santa  Monica  or  San  Pedro,  once  and  for  all,  was 
in  itself  almost  a  guarantee  that  the  decision  would  be  just 
and  honorable.  Of  Professor  Rodgers,  the  representative 
of  the  Coast  Survey,  and  of  Messrs.  Morrison  and  Burr, 
nothing  but  favorable  reports  were  heard.  Each  stood  well  in 
his  profession  and  was  believed  to  be  incorruptible.  But 
the  last  name,  Richard  Price  Morgan,  was  received  with 
doubt  and  surprise.  It  was  known  that  he  had  at  one  time 
done  the  Southern  Pacific  an  important  service,  and  that 
his  son  was  now  in  the  employ  of  that  road.  There  were 
also  other  objections  to  him,  offered  by  those  who  professed 
to  be  familiar  with  his  career.  A  protest  was  at  once  filed 
with  President  Cleveland  by  Senator  White,  who  declared 
the  appointment  to  be  entirely  unsuitable.  Mr.  Cleveland 
then  addressed  a  letter  to  Mr.  Morgan,  and  it  is  said  by 
those  who  have  seen  a  copy  of  the  letter  that  it  was  plainly 
intended  to  "draw"  the  latter's  resignation,  or  in  the  event 
that  it  failed  of  that  purpose,  to  give  him  to  understand  the 
nature  of  the  doubts  regarding  him,  and  to  put  him,  so  to 


THE  WALKER  BOARD  MEETS.  171 

speak,  on  his  best  behavior.  Mr.  Morgan  did  not  resign,  bift 
served  with  the  Board.  He  did  not  live  at  the  same  hotel 
with  the  other  members,  however,  nor  go  with  them  on 
any  of  the  little  pleasure  trips  which  they  took  about  the 
country,  during  their  leisure,  nor  did  he  fraternize  with  them 
— or  shall  we  say  they  with  him  ? — in  any  way.  In  the  end, 
he  brought  in  a  minority  report,  containing  some  very  pe- 
culiar matter. 

The  public  sessions  of  the  Walker  Board,  at  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  began  December  21,  1896,  and  lasted 
through  seven  days.  Prior  to  that  time  the  Board  had  spent 
some  weeks  studying  the  technical  features  of  the  question, 
from  charts  and  maps  and  other  data  of  the  Coast  Survey. 
The  ''Gedney"  of  the  Coast  Survey  was  placed  at  their  dis- 
posal by  the  government,  and  two  months  were  spent  in  a 
thorough,  practical  investigation  of  the  harbor  sites.  All 
soundings  were  taken  anew  and  fresh  charts  were  prepared. 
Borings  were  made  all  along  the  lines  of  the  proposed  break- 
waters and  at  intervals  through  the  harbors.  Faithful  and 
thorough  work  was  done,  and  not  a  possible  chance  was 
left  open  for  the  claim  put  forward  by  Messrs.  Hood  and 
Corthell,  and  by  Senator  Frye,  with  regard  to  the  former 
boards,  that  the  investigation  was  superficial. 

The  Southern  Pacific,  or  Port  Los  Angeles  side  of  the 
case,  was  managed  by  Mr.  Hood,  assisted  by  Mr.  Corthell. 
The  latter  detailed  his  theory  of  sand  currents  at  San  Pedro 
and  stated  the  manifold  advantages  of  Port  Los  Angeles,  as 
he  saw  them.  Mr.  Hood  repeated  his  objections  to  San 
Pedro  in  much  the  same  form  as  he  had  given  them  to  the 
Craighill  Board  and  to  the  Senate  Committee,  except  that 
on  this  occasion  he  admitted  that  the  holding  ground  at  San 
Pedro  was  good.  Captains  Pillsbury,  Salmond,  Johnson 
and  Dornfield  testified  to  the  excellence  of  Port  Los  Angeles 
as  a  safe  landing  for  ships,  and  Division  Superintendent 
J.  A.  Muir  and  A.  M.  Jamison,  of  the  Southern  Pacific,  sup- 
plied some  important  details  for  the  Santa  Monica  side  of 
the  case.  Mr.  J.  S.  Slauson  and  ex-Senator  Cornelius  Cole 
were  also  heard  on  that  side. 

The  San  Pedro  case  was  under  the  management  of  Mr. 
John  F.  Francis  and  Mr.  Henry  Hawgood,  who  repre- 
sented the  Free  Harbor  League,  and  Mr.  T.  E.  Gibbon  and 


172  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

Mr.  Robert  Moore,  who  represented  the  Terminal.  The 
technical  side  of  the  matter  was  presented  by  Mr.  Hawgood 
and  Mr.  Moore.  The  navigation  features  were  described 
by  Captains  Weldt,  Polhamus,  Smith  and  A.  J.  Johnson. 
Mr.  Patterson  presented  the  views  of  the  League,  in  the 
form  of  a  petition  from  business  men  representing  over 
$15,000,000  of  capital,  which  set  forth  the  conviction  of  the 
signers  that  the  commercial  interests  of  the  section  would  be 
best  subserved  by  the  selection  of  San  Pedro,  for  the  reason 
that  that  harbor  would  be  "free  to  all  railways  that  may 
desire  to  enter,  an  advantage  that  cannot  be  enjoyed  at  any 
other  point  now  under  discussion." 

There  is  an  element  of  grim  sarcasm  in  the  sentence  with 
which  the  petition  filed  by  Mr.  Patterson  closes : 

"As  a  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  our  position  in  this  matter, 
we  desire  to  state  that  we  who  sign  this  petition  have  not 
and  will  not  sign  any  petition  addressed  to  your  board,  in 
favor  of  any  other  locality." 

This  observation  was  pointed  at  the  compromisers. 

A  very  complete  and  concise  history  of  the  controversy 
from  the  beginning  was  presented  by  Mr.  Gibbon,  followed 
by  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  San  Pedro  location.  He 
discussed,  in  detail,  the  "monopoly  harbor"  question,  par- 
ticularly with  reference  to  the  protection  afforded  compet- 
itors of  the  Southern  Pacific  by  the  section  of  the  act  which 
provided  that  the  Southern  Pacific  must  execute  an  agree- 
ment and  file  it  with  the  Secretary  of  War  that  any  railway 
company  "may  share  the  use  of  the  pier  now  constructed 
at  Port  Los  Angeles  and  the  approaches  and  tracks  lead- 
ing thereto,"  and  that  any  railway  company  desiring  to  con- 
struct a  pier  in  Santa  Monica  Bay  "may,  for  the  purpose  of 
approaching  such  wharf  or  pier  and  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
structing and  operating  the  same,  cross  the  track  or  tracks, 
approaches  and  right-of-way  now  used  by  the  Southern  Pa- 
cific, under  such  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by  tha 
Secretary  of  War."  Mr.  Gibbon's  argument  on  this  point 
was  as  follows : 

So  we  have  in  this  harbor  a  railroad  company  occupying 
a  right-of-way  along  the  whole. 8000  feet  of  the  proposed 
front,  only  half  of  which  is  subject  to  the  law  with  reference 
to  joint  ownership,  but  all  of  which  forms  approaches  to 


THE  REPORT  OF  THE  BOARD.       173 

wharves  which  may  be  run  out  into  any  portion  of  the  pro- 
tected area  from  any  part  of  the  frontage.  In  addition  to 
that,  this  company  practically  controls  all  of  the  land  avail- 
able for  other  purposes,  on  2200  feet  of  the  4400  feet  of 
water  front,  which  will  enjoy  the  maximum  of  protection, 
and  such  control,  outside  the  narrow  right-of-way  from  the 
tunnel  to  the  pier,  is  not  subject  to  the  provision  as  to  joint 

ownership So   that   it   is   not   going   beyond 

the  bare  facts  of  the  case  to  say  that  along  the  whole  front 
of  this  harbor  the  Southern  Pacific  has,  and  will  have,  in 
spite  of  the  provisions  of  the  law,  a  superior  right  with  which 
no  other  company  can  afford  or  will  endeavor  to  compete. 

Very  little  that  was  really  new  and  that  had  not  been 
covered  in  some  manner  by  the  Craighill  Board,  was  intro- 
duced in  the  public  testimony.  The  report  of  the  Walker 
Board  was  filed  March  ist,  1897.  It  is  a  bulky  volume, 
containing  a  quantity  of  maps  and  charts  and  a  transcript 
of  the  hearing  and  a  number  of  documents  that  bear  on  the 
case.  Among  the  charts  are  sketches  of  all  the  leading  har- 
bors of  the  world  where  artificial  breakwaters  have  been  con- 
structed. This  makes  the  volume  [Document  No.  18,  55th 
Congress,  ist  session]  one  of  special  value. 

The  report  of  the  Walker  Board  begins  with  a  statement 
of  the  law  under  which  it  was  appointed  and  a  defining  of 
the  work  that  lies  before  it: 

The  act  under  which  this  board  is  appointed  provides  for 
a  deep-water  harbor  for  commerce  and  of  refuge.  Under 
the  provisions  of  the  law,  a  deep-water  harbor  is  understood 
to  be  a  harbor  which  can  be  used  by  vessels  of  the  deepest 
draft.  Merchant  vessels  drawing  from  26  to  28  feet  are 
now  common,  while  steamers  have  been  built  which,  when 
fully  loaded,  will  draw  30  feet  or  even  more.  In  view  of 
these  facts,  it  would  seem  that  a  deep-water  harbor  must  be 
one  which  will  safely  accommodate  vessels  drawing  at  least 
30  feet. 

The  provision  that  it  must  be  harbor  for  commerce  is  un- 
derstood to  mean  that  it  shall  be  a  harbor  in  which  vessels 
can  load  and  discharge  cargoes  in  convenient  proximity  to 
suitable  facilities  for  storage  and  for  interchange  between 
land  and  water  transportation.  In  many  ports  of  the  world 
this  work  is  done  by  the  aid  of  lighters  while  the  ships  He- 
at anchor,  a  slow  and  expensive  method,  which  can  no  longer 
be  considered  satisfactory.  A  deep-water  harbor  for  com- 


174  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

merce  should  be  such  that  the  deepest  ships  can  come  along- 
side quays  or  piers,  where  they  can  lie  quietly  during  rough 
weather  to  receive  and  discharge  their  cargoes,  and  where 
proper  facilities  for  docking  and  repairs  may  be  afforded. 

The  provision  that  it  shall  be  a  harbor  of  refuge  is 
understood  to  mean  that  it  shall  be  a  harbor  which  all 
classes  of  vessels  can  enter  in  stress  of  weather,  without 
waiting  for  tides,  and  where  they  can  anchor  in  safety  at  all 
times.  The  depth  of  water  in  the  proposed  harbor  of  refuge 
must  be  such  that  the  largest  ships  can  safely  ride  at 
anchor  within  its  limits,  swinging  over  their  own  anchors 
without  danger. 

The  board  then  presents  a  technical  description  of  the  two 
harbors,  after  which  it  says  : 

(  At  neither  location  can  a  deep-water  harbor  that  shall 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  law  be  constructed  within  the 
limits  of  the  present  shore  line;  it  can  only  be  made  by  a 
breakwater  which  will  furnish  the  necessary  area  of  pro- 
tected smooth  water  behind  it.  At  Port  Los  Angeles  this 
breakwater  must  afford  protection  against  southwest  seas 
and  swells,  the  main  exposure  being  very  nearly  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  heaviest  swell.  At  San  Pedro  the  breakwater 
must  afford  protection  from  southeast  to  southwest.  As 
the  breakwater  at  Port  Los  Angeles  must  be  some  dis- 
tance outside  the  pier,  and  that  at  San  Pedro  some  distance 
outside  of  the  present  harbor  entrance,  the  exposure  will  be 
somewhat  increased  at  the  breakwaters,  this  being  espe- 
cially the  case  at  San  Pedro,  where  a  portion  of  the  break- 
water must  necessarily  be  beyond  the  protection  of  Point 
Fermin.  So  far  as  can  be  judged  from  the  evidence  placed 
before  the  board,  from  personal  observations,  and  from  the 
direction  of  exposure,  the  duties  which  must  be  performed 
by  a  breakwater  at  Port  Los  Angeles  would  probably  be 
greater,  and  the  seas  which  it  might  have  to  resist  may  be 
heavier,  than  would  be  the  case  with  a  breakwater  at  San 
Pedro.  In  view  of  the  fact,  however,  that  violent  storms 
and  seas  are  of  rare  occurrence  at  either  point,  it  has  been 
thought  right  to  estimate  on  the  same  construction  at  each 
place.  At  either  site  a  breakwater  of  lighter  section  than 
would  generally  be  demanded  is  admissible. 

The  form  and  character  of  the  desired  breakwater  at  each 
point  is  next  considered.  The  Board  then  says  : 

The  character  of  the  holding  ground  within  the  protected 
area  at  San  Pedro  is  admitted  by  all  parties  to  be  good.  It 


THE  LOCATIONS  COMPARED.  175 

is  perhaps  in  places  a  little  too  hard,  but  not  enough  so  to 
form  any  substantial  objection.  As  a  harbor  of  refuge, 
the  area  behind  this  breakwater  would  seem  to  meet  all  rea- 
sonable requirements.  It  could  be  used  as  a  harbor  for  com- 
merce by  building  out  long  piers  from  the  shore,  as  has  been 
done  at  Port  Los  Angeles.  To  reach  the  same  depth  of  water 
these  piers  would  have  to  be  about  3,000  feet  longer  than 
the  Port  Los  Angeles  pier,  but  one-half  of  the  length 
would  be  in  shallow  water,  which  could  be  replaced  by  a  solid 
embankment,  the  construction  being  no  more  expensive  in 
character  than  that  of  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad  between 
Wilmington  and  San  Pedro.  The  approaches  to  such  piers 
would  be  practically  without  grade  and  immediately  ad- 
jacent to  the  railway  tracks  now  in  use,  as  well  as  to  the 
facilities  of  the  existing  inner  harbor.  The  inner  harbor, 
however,  affords  possibilities  which  may  make  the  construc- 
tion of  such  piers  inexpedient.  .  .  ...  . 

In  comparing  the  two  harbors  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 
ing, as  between  them,  the  best  location  of  a  deep-water  har- 
bor for  commerce  and  of  refuge,  it  is  necessary  to  consider 
not  only  at  which  point  the  best  harbor  can  be  made,  but  at 
which  point  a  harbor,  when  so  made,  will  be  most  useful. 
If  the  location  at  which  the  best  harbor  can  be  made  is  also 
the  one  which  will  be  the  most  useful,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  which  place  should  be  selected.  If  a  harbor  which 
will  meet  the  requirements  of  the  law  can  only  be  made  at 
one  of  the  two  places,  that  location  should  undoubtedly  be 
chosen.  If,  however,  a  harbor  can  be  constructed  at  each 
point  which  will  meet  the  requirements  of  the  law,  the  loca- 
tion at  which  a  harbor  will  be  the  most  useful  is  the  one 
which  should  be  preferred 

So  far  as  direct  means  of  exchanging  traffic  between  land 
and  water  transportation  is  concerned,  San  Pedro  affords 
greater  advantages  than  Port  Los  Angeles.  Prior  to  the 
completion  of  the  improvements  of  the  inner  harbor,  it  is 
reasonable  to  assume  that  one  suitably  designed  timber  pier, 
located  at  a  safe  distance  on  either  side  of  the  jetty  entrance 
and  practically  carried  out  to  the  5-fathom  line,  would  ac- 
commodate those  vessels  whose  draft  would  prevent  their  en- 
trance to  the  inner  harbor 

At  Port  Los  Angeles  there  is  at  present  no  room  for  the 
storage  of  cargoes  except  the  coal  bunkers  on  the  pier. 
Warehouses  can  be  built  on  piers,  but  they  would  be  subT 
ject  to  all  the  risks  attendant  on  pier  construction.  Land 
can  be  made  for  warehouse  and  other  purposes  at  large  ex- 


176  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

pense,  between  the  present  shore  and  three-fathom  line,  or 
even  farther  out;  goods  to  be  put  in  warehouses  so  located 
must,  however,  be  handled  from  vessels  to  cars  which  will 
run  lengthwise  on  the  piers  and  then  unloaded  again  into 
the  warehouses,  thus  requiring  an  extra  handling.  As  the 
handling  costs  more  than  the  movement,  it  might  be  best  to 
erect  such  warehouses  at  some  distance  from  the  piers  and 
transport  the  goods  by  rail.  At  San  Pedro  warehouses  or 
storage  yards  can  be  provided  back  of  the  bulkhead  line  for 
the  whole  length  of  the  harbor,  in  the  most  convenient  pos- 
sible position  for  landing  and  handling  cargoes;  practically 
this  is  done  now  in  the  lumber  yards  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
harbor.  In  this  respect  San  Pedro  has  decided  advan- 
tages  

It  is  the  English  practice  to  have  at  least  one  and  fre- 
quently several  dry  docks  in  every  important  port.  Such 
facilities  could  be  provided  near  the  shore  at  Port  Los  An- 
geles between  the  piers,  and  although  the  ground  must  be 
made,  there  would  probably  be  ample  room.  Much  better 
opportunities  for  works  of  this  class  are  afforded  on  the  edge 
of  Wilmington  Lagoon,  in  positions  where  there  will  be 
abundant  room  on  shore  for  machine  shops  and  other  ac- 
cessories. In  this  respect  San  Pedro  offers  advantages  far 
superior  to  those  at  Santa  Monica. 

In  the  matter  of  approaches  from  the  land,  Port  Los  An- 
geles is  now  connected  with  Los  Angeles  by  a  single  line  of 
railroad,  the  Southern  Pacific,  while  a  second  line,  the  Santa 
Fe,  terminates  at  Santa  Monica,  two  miles  away.  There 
are  no  physical  difficulties  in  the  way  of  extending  the  Santa 
Fe  tracks  to  Port  Los  Angeles,  and  there  is  abundant  room 
to  lay  additional  tracks  between  the  bluffs  and  the  sea.  The 
only  difficulties  to  be  apprehended  are  such  as  would  arise 
from  the  destruction  of  the  Santa  Monica  beach  and  the  in- 
terference with  the  vested  rights  of  private  owners  and  cor- 
porations. There  are  at  present  two  lines  of  railroad  from 
Los  Angeles  to  San  Pedro,  one  terminating  on  each  side  of 
the  inner  harbor.  The  difference  in  the  present  facilities  of 
communication  between  Los  Angeles  and  the  two  harbors 
is  immaterial.  The  distance  is  slightly  greater  to  San  Pedro ; 
the  grades  are  a  little  heavier  on  the  Santa  Monica  line. 
The  present  lines  of  communication,  however,  may  be  much 
less  important  than  those  which  will  be  developed  when  a 
first-class  harbor  is  established  at  one  or  another  of  these 
ports 


ADMIRAL  JOHN  G.  WALKER. 


HON.  R.  C.  KERENS. 


GEO.  B.  LEIGHTON,  PRESIDENT  TERMINAL  RAILWAY  Co. 


THE  FINAL  CONCLUSIONS.  177 

Considered  as  a  convenient  harbor  of  refuge,  there  is  little 
difference  between  the  two.  Either  would  be  easily  ac- 
cessible from  the  open  sea,  and  the  comparative  ease  with 
which  a  ship  would  reach  the  breakwater  protection  at  one  or 
the  other  would  depend  chiefly  upon  her  direction  of  ap- 
proach when  she  decided  to  seek  refuge 

A  final  summing  up  of  the  case  is  given  in  the  following 
language : 

Although  the  location  of  Port  Los  Angeles  affords  all 
that  is  needful  for  a  satisfactory  harbor  of  refuge,  it  is  de- 
ficient in  the  facilities  necessary  for  a  harbor  of  commerce 
contemplated  under  the  law.  At  San  Pedro,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  large  expenditure  has  already  been  made  for  the 
improvement  of  the  channel  leading  into  the  inner  harbor 
and  in  the  inner  harbor  itself.  The  series  of  examinations 
made  under  this  Board  also  show  that  any  further  improve- 
ment that  may  be  needed  can  readily  be  made,  and  that  the 
possibilities  for  the  further  development  of  the  interior  har- 
bor are  equal  to  any  demand  upon  it  which  the  future  can  be 
expected  to  make.  It  is  the  conclusion  of  this  Board,  there- 
fore, that  the  opportunity  for  a  harbor  of  refuge  as  planned 
for  San  Pedro  and  the  availability  of  both  the  interior  har- 
bor and  the  Wilmington  Lagoon  for  improvements,  and  de- 
velopment to  any  extent  that  can  now  be  anticipated,  meet 
more  fully  the  requirements  of  the  law  than  the  possibilities 
offered  at  Port  Los  Angeles. 

While  the  physical  advantages  of  the  San  Pedro  location 
naturally  lead  to  its  selection,  the  advisability  of  that  choice 
is  materially  strengthened  by  the  consideration  of  the  exten- 
sive improvement  of  its  interior  harbor  already  made,  condi- 
tionally provided  for  or  contemplated  as  the  object  of  future 
appropriations.  If  the  choice  of  the  deep-water  harbor  site 
should  fall  to  Port  Los  Angeles,  the  present  statute  would 
then  authorize  improvements  at  the  San  Pedro  location  to  the 
amount  of  $392,000,  under  Lieut.-Col.  W.  H.  H.  Benyaurd's 
project  of  June  8th,  1894,  and  the  same  statute  unqualifiedly 
directs  the  Secretary  of  War  "at  his  discretion"  to  cause 
surveys  and  estimates  to  be  made  for  further  improvements 
at  the  same  location,  so  as  to  secure  a  depth  of  25  feet  at 
mean  low  water  in  the  channel  and  interior  harbor.  In  the 
broad  consideration  of  this  question,  therefore,  it  must  be  as- 
sumed that  the  improvement  of  the  channel  and  interior  har- 
bor at  San  Pedro  will  be  continued.  If  the  expenditure  of 


iy8  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

public  money  is  to  be  devoted  to  harbor  purposes  in  this  sec- 
tion, its  division  between  the  two  points  considered  will  fail 
to  secure  that  efficiency  in  results  which  would  be  attained 
by  the  same  total  expenditure  at  one  of  the  two  locations. 
It  is  the  judgment  of  this  Board  that  the  best  public  policy, 
both  in  the  interest  of  economy  and  for  the  attainment  of  a 
deep-water  harbor  for  commerce  and  of  refuge  demands  the 
concentration  of  expenditures  at  one  point,  with  the  cor- 
responding cumulative  excellence  of  results,  rather  than  a 
dispersion  and  weakening  of  results  by  a  divided  expendi- 
ture at  the  two  locations.  This  conclusion  gains  consider- 
able force  through  the  fact  that  the  selection  of  the  San 
Pedro  site  will,  for  the  reasons  stated,  undoubtedly  involve 
materially  less  ultimate  total  expenditure  than  is  certain  to  be 
incurred  by  the  inevitable  construction  and  maintenance  of 
the  two  harbors,  if  Port  Los  Angeles  were  to  be  selected. 
The  preponderance  of  physical  advantages,  therefore,  which 
leads  to  the  selection  of  the  San  Pedro  location,  is  in  line 
with  the  requirements  of  the  best  public  policy  as  to  the  mat- 
ter entrusted  to  the  decision  of  this  Board. 

Taking  all  these  considerations  together,  this  Board  re- 
ports in  favor  of  San  Pedro  as  the  location  for  a  deep-water 
harbor  for  commerce  and  of  refuge  in  Southern  California. 

This  part  of  the  report  was  signed  by  all  the  members 
of  the  Board  except  Mr.  Morgan.  He  filed  a  separate  mi- 
nority report,  two  weeks  later,  which  is  to  be  found  in  the 
same  volume  with  the  other.  Mr.  Morgan's  views  on  the 
harbor  question,  as  set  forth  in  his  minority  report,  created 
no  little  amusement,  not  only  among  Los  Angeles  people, 
but  also  among  engineers  all  over  the  country.  He  gives  a 
list  of  ten  reasons  why,  in  his  opinion,  Santa  Monica  is  to 
be  preferred  to  San  Pedro,  the  last  two  being  as  follows : 

Because  Port  Los  Angeles  harbor  has  about  it  natural 
features  of  beauty  and  grandeur  which,  added  to  its  excel- 
lence as  a  deep-water  harbor  for  commerce  and  of  refuge, 
would  make  it  famous  throughout  the  world. 

Because  the  name,  Port  Los  Angeles,  comports  with  the 
city  of  Los  Angeles,  whose  commercial  importance  mainly 
justfies  the  construction  of  the  proposed  harbor.  The  name 
San  Pedro  has  no  special  significance  beyond  itself. 

In  justice  to  Mr.  Morgan  it  must  be  stated  that  his  eight 
other  reasons  were  decidedly  better  than  those  two,  whose 


THE  LEAGUE  CELEBRATES.  179 

solemn  absurdity  caused  a  local  publication  to  offer  in  com- 
parison this  nonsense  from  "Alice." 

"  The  time  has  come  ",  the  walrus  said, 
"To  talk  of  many  things  : 
Of  shoes,  and  ships  and  sealing  wax, 

Of  cabbages  and  kings  ; 
Of  why  the  sea  is  boiling  hot 
And  whether  pigs  have  wings." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 
THE  SECRETARY  OF  DELAY. 

THE  failure  of  the  supporters  of  the  Santa  Monica  site  to 
develop  any  new  material  before  the  Walker  Board  led 
to  a  general  conviction  that  the  report,  when  it  should  appear, 
would  be  for  San  Pedro,  since  the  previous  Boards  had  come 
to  that  decision,  on  substantially  the  same  testimony.  This 
anticipation,  however,  was  not  strong  enough  to  blunt  the 
edge  of  the  keen  delight  that  the  people  of  Los  Angeles — or 
at  least  a  great  majority  of  them — felt,  when  the  word  came, 
during  the  last  days  of  the  Cleveland  administration,  that 
the  Board  had  reported  in  favor  of  the  ''Free  Harbor."  The 
Evening  Express,  which  was  still  a  Santa  Monica  paper, 
was  the  first  to  receive  the  news,  and  from  there  it  was  tele- 
phoned all  over  the  city.  The  siren  whistle  which  the  Times 
blows  when  important  news  comes  to  the  city  sounded  joy- 
fully, and  the  members  of  the  League,  divining  what  had 
happened,  came  hastily  together. 

An  impromptu  celebration  was  organized  at  the  Jonathan 
club.  A  band  of  music  was  summoned,  banners  were 
quickly  lettered,  and  a  procession  of  Leaguers  marched 
through  the  principal  streets  of  the  city,  gathering  numbers 
of  people  as  they  went  along.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
cheering  and  handshaking  and  drinking  of  healths.  The 
fight  had  been  so  long,  and  at  times  so  hopeless,  that  it 
seemed  quite  incredible  that  it  was  at  last  over,  and  that  the 
invincible  railroad  had  for  once  gone  down  in  defeat. 

The  Santa  Monica  adherents  took  the  decision  pleasantly, 
many  of  them  joining  in  the  celebration.  It  was  expected 
that  the  railroad  would  grasp  the  opportunity  to  restore 


i8o  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

pleasant  relations  between  the  Los  Angeles  public  and  itself 
by  some  graceful  act  of  recognition  of  the  final  outcome.  A 
few  words  from  Mr.  Huntington,  to  the  effect  that  the  rail- 
road accepted  the  decision  with  good  feeling,  and  would 
henceforth  unite  with  Los  Angeles  in  the  endeavor  to  secure 
appropriations  for  the  development  of  San  Pedro  harbor,  if 
they  had  come  just  at  this  time,  would  have  put  the  Soutlv 
ern  Pacific  back  in  the  position  it  had  occupied  in  the  estima- 
tion of  the  people  before  the  contest  began.  But  those  words 
were  not  uttered,  neither  then  nor  two  years  later,  when  the 
beginning  of  the  work  was  formally  celebrated  in  the  Free 
Harbor  Jubilee  of  April,  1899.  On  the  latter  occasion  the 
railroad  refused  to  participate  in  any  way  in  the  ceremonies, 
and  declined  to  make  any  subscription  to  the  fund  which 
was  raised,  although  it  was  benefited  to  a  consideraole  ex- 
tent by  an  enormous  passenger  business  between  Los  An- 
geles and  San  Pedro  during  the  Jubilee.  It  would  seem 
that  this  attitude  taken  by  the  railroad  on  a  matter  that  is 
settled  beyond  question,  was  of  doubtful  wisdom  from  busi- 
ness considerations,  if  other  grounds  are  not  regarded.  It 
was  said,  and  this  history  would  not  be  complete  without 
referring  to  the  matter,  that  during  a  great  part  of  the  con- 
test the  feeling  against  the  Southern  Pacific  was  so  strong 
that  many  shippers  were  refusing  to  send  goods  over  that 
line  to  points  where  the  Santa  Fe  was  equally  available. 
There  was  nothing  that  resembled  a  boycott,  but  the  theory 
prevailed  that  the  enmity  aroused  by  the  opposition  of  the 
road  to  the  people's  will  must  have  caused  the  loss  of  con- 
siderable revenue  to  that  corporation.  The  officers  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  deny  this,  with  considerable  vigor,  and  they 
assert  that  while  a  feeling  of  resentment  was  noticeable  in 
some  quarters,  there  was  never  any  evidence  that  it  affected 
the  road's  business,  which  showed  a  considerable  increase 
during  the  period.  In  the  absence  of  definite  information, 
which  in  the  nature  of  things  is  not  obtainable,  it  is  perhaps 
just  as  well  to  accept  the  maxim  that  "there  is  no  sentiment 
in  business,"  as  covering  this  case.  If  the  Southern  Pacific 
was  hurt  by  the  course  it  had  adopted  with  regard  to  the 
harbor,  the  injury  certainly  never  showed  on  the  surface. 

And   Mr.   Huntington  never  sent  the  pleasant  message 
which  some  of  his  friends  predicted  would  come.     On  the 


ALGER  TAKES  A  HAND.  181 

contrary,  evidence  presently  began  to  accumulate  that  the 
fight  was  not  all  out  of  him  yet.  Indeed,  whatever  else, 
good  or  bad,  is  to  be  said  of  the  president  of  the  Southern 
Pacific,  it  must  be  admitted  that  he  is  a  splendid  fighter. 

When  the  appointment  of  Gen.  Russell  A.  Alger  as  Sec- 
retary of  War  was  made  known,  the  fear  was  immediately 
expressed  that  San  Pedro  might  have  "one  more  river  to 
cross."  When  the  contest  was  at  its  height,  Gen.  Alger 
had  visited  Los  Angeles  as  a  guest. of  the  Southern  Pacific, 
and  in  an  interview  in  the  Herald  had  declared  his  belief 
that  Santa  Monica  and  not  San  Pedro  was  the  proper  place 
for  the  harbor.  He  was  known  to  be  on  very  friendly  terms 
with  Mr.  Huntington,  and  to  sustain  rather  intimate  business 
relations  with  him  through  his  northwestern  lumber  inter- 
ests. The  Democrats,  moreover,  were  not  slow  to  call  at- 
tention to  the  fact,  which  was  known  and  undisputed,  that 
Mr.  Huntington  had  been  one  of  the  largest  subscribers  tc 
the  fund  raised  by  Mr.  Hanna  for  Mr.  McKinley's  cam- 
paign; and  the  rumor  which  came  out  from  the  East,  that 
Gen.  Alger 's  appointment  had  been  urged  on  the  Presi- 
dent somewhat  against  his  own  inclination,  seemed  to  fit  in 
with  other  things,  to  make  the  San  Pedro  outlook  very 
dubious.  However,  as  it  ultimately  came  about,  President 
McKinley  disproved  this  unfriendly  theory  by  finally  com- 
pelling Secretary  Alger  to  proceed  with  the  work. 

When  the  report  of  the  Walker  Board  was  made  public, 
the  friends  of  San  Pedro  figured  that  as  soon  as  specifica- 
tions were  drawn  up — which  might  take  two  months — and 
advertised — which  would  take  another  two  months — and 
a  favorable  bid  accepted,  the  work  would  be  ready  to  begin. 
The  decision  was  rendered  in  March,  1897,  and  it  was 
thought  that  work  might  perhaps  be  under  way  the  follow- 
ing fall  or  winter,  or,  with  the  greatest  delay  conceivable,  in 
a  year's  time.  Yet  it  was  not  until  the  month  of  April,  1899. 
two  whole  years  and  a  month  from  the  time  of  the  decision, 
that  the  first  load  of  rock  was  dumped  into  the  breakwater; 
and  now,  at  the  end  of  the  controversy,  it  may  be  said,  with- 
out the  fear  of  sincere  contradiction,  that  at  least  half  of 
this  time  was  deliberately  wasted  by  Secretary  Alger,  in 
the  desperate  hope  of  throwing  the  issue  back  into  Congress. 


182  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

Why  he  pursued  this  course  is  perhaps  a  mystery;  that  he 
pursued  it  is  a  matter  of  fact. 

At  the  beginning  of  President  McKinley's  term,  Col.  H. 
G.  Otis  visited  Washington,  and  was  an  applicant  for  the 
position  of  First  Assistant  Secretary  of  War.  In  his  de- 
sire for  this  place  he  was  actuated  partly,  no  doubt,  by 
an  ambition  natural  to  a  soldier  and  man  of  affairs,  but 
perhaps  more  by  a  wish  to  assist  in  carrying  through  to  com- 
pletion the  work  at  San  Pedro,  for  which  he  had  fought  so 
long  and  so  bravely.  An  intimate  friendship  of  long  stand- 
ing with  President  McKinley  gave  him  reason  to  hope  for 
help  from  that  quarter,  and  it  was  freely  rendered,  the 
President  urging  the  appointment  on  the  Secretary.  But 
Secretary  Alger  did  not  desire  Col.  Otis  as  an  assistant, 
alleging  as  a  reason  that,  as  California  was  already  rep- 
resented in  the  Cabinet,  it  would  not  do  to  appoint  a 
First  Assistant  Secretary  from  the  same  State.  He  there- 
upon proceeded  to  appoint  a  gentleman  from  New  York, 
which  State  was  also  represented  in  the  Cabinet. 

Before  leaving  Washington,  however,  Col.  Otis  had  an 
interview  with  Secretary  Alger  on  the  subject  of  the  harbor, 
and  was  assured  that  the  work  would  be  pushed  as  rapidly 
as  possible. 

After  two  months  had  passed,  with  no  sound  from  the 
War  Department,  Ex-Congressman  McLachlan  interviewed 
the  Secretary  for  the  Evening  Express,  which  paper,  under 
a  change  of  management,  C.  D.  Willard  having  succeeded  H. 
Z.  Osborne,  was  now  a  San  Pedro  advocate,  and  the  surpris- 
ing information  was  elicited  that  the  report  of  the  Walker 
Board  was  not  clear  in  its  meaning,  and  that  the  matter  must 
be  carefully  considered  before  proceeding  further.  Another 
month  passed,  and  there  being  still  no  word  from  the  War 
Department,  Representative  Barlow,  who  had  succeeded 
Mr.  McLachlan,  called  on  Secretary  Alger  and  received 
what  he  declared  to  be  most  insulting  treatment.  The  Sec- 
retary said  in  effect  that  he  did  not  propose  to  answer  any 
more  questions  on  the  matter,  and  declined  to  state  when  he 
would  advertise  for  bids.  Congress  was  then  sitting  in 
extra  session,  wrestling  with  the  Dingley  Tariff  Bill,  and  a 
meeting  of  the  California  delegation  was  called,  and  action 
decided  upon.  Senator  White  introduced  a  resolution  in 


PLENTY  OF  EXCUSES.  183 

the  Senate,  asking  the  Secretary  of  War  why  he  did  not 
proceed  with  the  San  Pedro  harbor  work.  The  answer 
came  in  a  letter  which  set  forth  several  surprising  reasons. 
These  were  that  the  improvement  would  certainly  cost  more 
than  the  Board  had  figured;  that  the  act  called  for  a  harbor 
of  commerce  and  of  refuge,  which  the  Secretary  interpreted 
to  mean  both  the  outer  and  the  inner  harbors,  ^d  there 
was  not  money  enough  for  both;  that  to  make  the  outer 
harbor  available  for  commerce,  piers  and  bulkheads  must  be 
constructed,  which  would  cost  the  government  nearly  three 
millions  more ;  that  to  make  the  interior  harbor  of  any  value, 
it  was  necessary  to  dredge  it  out  to  30  feet  of  water  at  low 
tide,  whereas  the  report  of  the  Board  contemplated  only  21 
feet;  and  lastly,  that  there  were  a  number  of  sunken  rocks 
near  the  entrance  to  the  harbor,  which  the  Board,  with  all 
its  investigation,  had  overlooked. 

When  this  document  was  published  a  howl  of  mingled 
anger,  amusement  and  disgust  went  up  from  the  people  of 
Southern  California,  who  saw  that  they  were  now  face  to 
face  again  with  the  old  enemy,  but  in  a  new  form.  The 
voice  was  the  voice  of  Jacob,  but  the  hand  was  the  hand  of 
Esau.  It  was  very  like  the  cool  audacity  of  Mr.  Huntington 
to  sweep  away  in  a  few  words  the  patient  work  of  experts, 
and  produce  in  its  stead  an  off-hand  opinion  as  to  sunken 
rocks  or  an  underestimate  of  cost.  The  reader  who  has 
examined  the  terms  of  the  original  act,  as  quoted  in  Chapter 
XVII,  and  the  findings  of  the  Board,  will  experience  no  diffi- 
culty in  disposing  of  all  of  Secretary  Alger's  objections  that 
rest  on  even  a  semblance  of  fact. 

The  answering  resolution  introduced  by  Senator  White 
and  promptly  passed  by  the  Senate,  was  almost  contempt- 
uous in  its  brevity.  It  instructed  the  Secretary  to  proceed 
without  further  delay  to  advertise  for  bids  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  breakwater  for  the  outside  harbor  at  San  Pedro, 
in  accordance  with  the  report  of  the  Walker  Board.  Shortly 
afterward  Congress  adjourned,  and  it  was  supposed  that 
the  incident  was  closed. 

But  Secretary  Alger  was  only  just  beginning.  His  scheme 
of  systematic  delay  was  barely  in  its  inception.  The  next 
point  raised,  when  he  was  called  upon  by  a  delegation  of  Los 
Angeles  citizen,  was  that  the  Senate  resolution,  to  be  operat- 


184  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

ive,  should  have  been  passed  in  concurrent  form  by  the 
House.  Of  all  the  various  excuses  this  was  the  most  short- 
lived. He  was  warned  that  such  an  attitude,  if  persisted  in, 
would  be  regarded  by  the  Senate  as  a  deliberate  affront,  for 
which  he  would  be  called  to  account  in  the  next  session. 

A  direct  appeal  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  Southern 
California  to  President  McKinley  resulted  in  drawing  a 
statement  from  the  Secretary  that  he  would  leave  the  decis- 
ion of  the  matter  with  Attorney-General  McKenna.  The 
latter  officer  returned  a  prompt  and  emphatic  reply  that  there 
were  no  legal  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  Secretary's  adver- 
tising for  bids.  This  decision  rested  over  a  month  on  Sec- 
retary's Alger's  desk  before  it  was  given  to  the  public,  al- 
though repeated  inquiries  were  made  of  him  during  that 
time. 

In  this  way  the  summer  and  fall  of  1897  passed,  and  as 
the  months  slipped  by  the  annoyance  and  anxiety  of  the 
people  of  Los  Angeles  grew  into  rage  and  despair.  It  was 
not  enough,  so  it  seemed,  to  secure  the  passage  of  a  law 
through  Congress  authorizing  the  work ;  an  executive  officer 
was  to  be  reckoned  with,  who  deliberately  nullified,  by  a 
series  of  trivial  and  trumped-up  excuses,  the  carrying  out  of 
the  law.  Realizing  that  they  were  in  for  another  long 
struggle,  the  Free  Harbor  League  and  the  commercial 
bodies  of  the  city  began  a  systematic  campaign  against  Sec- 
retary Alger,  whom  they  endeavored  to  reach  through  in- 
fluence brought  to  bear  from  all  points  of  the-  compass  on 
President  McKinley.  Thousands  of  letters  and  telegrams 
were  sent  out  all  over  the  country  to  influential  men;  and 
the  newspapers  that  had  stood  by  San  Pedro  when  the  case 
was  before  the  Senate  took  up  the  issue  in  its  changed  form. 

In  the  month  of  October  Alger  produced  his  next  excuse, 
which  was  that  the  bill  made  no  direct  appropriation,  and 
hence  nothing  could  be  done  until  Congress  met  again. 
This  was  in  one  way  true,  for  the  work  on  the  outside  or 
deep-water  harbor  being  placed  under  the  continuing  con- 
tract system,  it  was  necessary  that  an  appropriation 
should  be  passed  in  some  general  appropriation  bill  of  the 
next  Congress,  before  any  actual  payments  could  be  made 
to  contractors.  The  custom  followed  by  the  War  De- 
partment in  such  cases — with  which  Secretary  Alger  was 


THE  ADVERTISING  EXPENSE.  185 

of  course  familiar— is  to  prepare  the  specifications,  and 
proceed  to  get  bids.  This  process  necessarily  consumes 
some  time,  and,  in  this  case,  Congress  would  be  in  session 
long  before  it  was  over;  but  in  case  the  money  was  not  ac- 
tually set  aside,  inasmuch  as  the  Government  had  authorized 
the  Secretary  of  War  to  go  ahead  and  make  the  contract,  it 
was  well  understood  by  everybody  that  there  would  be  no 
difficulty  in  finding  a  contractor  who  was  ready  to  prepare 
for  the  work  without  waiting  for  the  final  action. 

When  the  Secretary  was  reminded  that  he  was  merely 
asked  to  advertise  for  bids,  and  that  question  of  the  begin- 
ning of  the  work  should  be  allowed  to  wait  for  the  present,  he 
developed  a  new  objection,  which  was  that  he  had  no  money 
with  which  to  pay  for  the  advertisements.  The  answer  to 
that  came  in  telegrams  from  all  the  papers  of  Los  Angeles 
and  several  in  San  Francisco,  offering  to  insert  the  adver- 
tisements free  of  charge,  and  from  the  Los 'Angeles  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  offering  to  pay  the  bill,  whatever  it  might  be. 
To  this  proposition  Secretary  Alger  returned  answer  that  it 
would  not  be  dignified  in  the  government  to  accept  aid  in 
such  a  matter,  but  that  he  had  submitted  the  question  of 
funds  for  advertising  to  the  Judge  Advocate  General.  Why  he 
selected  that  functionary,  whose  legal  duties  are  of  a  purely 
military  character,  will  always  remain  a  mystery,  unless 
the  theory  which  was  offered  at  that  time  was  correct,  that 
he  was  trying  one  officer  after  another  in  the  hope  of  getting 
a  friendly  decision  somewhere,  just  as  the  Santa  Monica  ad- 
vocates had  formerly  gone  from  one  Board  to  another. 

However,  the  Judge  Advocate  General  decided  that  the 
$50,000  appropriated  for  the  expense  of  the  investigation 
of  the  harbors,  a  part  of  which  remained  unexpended,  was 
available. 

In  the  meantime  Attorney  General  McKenna  had  been 
placed  on  the  Supreme  Bench  and  his  place  filled  by  John 
W.  Griggs.  Mr.  Alger  now  proposed,  with  most  unparal- 
leled effrontery,  to  submit  the  matter  to  him,  although  it  had 
already  been  fully  covered  by  his  predecessor  in  office.  It 
was  about  this  time  that  General  Rosecrans,  President 
McKinley's  old  commander,  who  was  then  passing  his  last 
days  in  Los  Angeles,  wrote  to  the  President  detailing  at 
some  length  the  nature  of  the  outrage  that  was  being  put 


186  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

upon  Southern  California;  and  the  result  of  that  and  of  other 
forms  of  influence  that  had  been  at  work  was  to  cause  the 
President  to  instruct  Secretary  Alger  immediately  to  ad- 
vertise for  bids.  These  instructions  were  obeyed.  It  took 
some  time  to  prepare  the  specifications,  for  none  of  the  pre- 
liminary work  had  been  done  in  all  these  wasted  months; 
but  on  the  loth  of  February,  1898,  almost  a  year  after  the 
report  of  the  Walker  Board,  the  bids  were  opened. 

They  were  most  surprisingly  favorable.  Out  of  the  seven- 
teen bids  filed,  only  one  was  for  an  amount  greater  than 
the  $2,900,000  provided  by  the  law,  thus  completely  disprov- 
ing Secretary  Algers  assertion,  so  often  repeated,  that  the 
work  could  not  be  done  for  the  amount  appropriated.  This 
particular  bid  was  from  a  New  York  firm  in  the  sum  of  $4,-] 
595>5 J 6,  which,  as  it  was  about  twice  the  average  of  the 
bids,  and  more  than  $3,000,000  above  the  lowest  bid,  was 
generally  believed  to  be  put  in  for  some  particular  purpose 
—perhaps  at  Mr.  Alger's  request. 

The  lowest  bid  was  from  the  Chicago  contracting  firm 
of  Heldmaier  &  Neu,  for  $1,303,198.  The  majority  of  the 
bids  were  under  $2,000,000. 

A  few  days  later  the  Sundry  Civil  Appropriation  bill, 
bearing  an  item  of  $400,000,  the  initial  appropriation  for 
San  Pedro  under  the  continuing  contract,  came  up  in  the 
House  and  a  very  singular  incident  occurred — one  that  has 
since  given  rise  to  no  little  speculation  as  to  its  true  inward- 
ness. 

When  the  item  was  reached  in  the  reading  of  the  bill,  Mr. 
Grosvenor,  of  Ohio,  rose  in  the  House  Committee  of  the 
Whole  to  ask  some  questions.  He  desired  to  know  whether 
the  exact  total  cost  of  this  improvement  was  known,  and 
whether  any  contract  had  been  let,  and  also  whether  it  was 
not  a  fact  that  "a  proposition  had  been  made  to  make  a  har- 
bor of  similar  character  at  a  location  in  the  immediate  vicin- 
ity of  San  Pedro  harbor  by  private  enterprise — covering  all 
the  possibilities  of  benefit  to  the  government  to  be  made 
and  turned  over  to  the  government  without  cost." 

Mr.  Cannon,  of  Illinois*,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Appropriations,  replied  at  considerable  length,  quoting 
the  law  of  '96,  which  he  declared  to  be  ambiguous,  and  the 
opinion  of  the  Attorney  General,  from  which  he  was  in- 


MR.  COOPER  OF  WISCONSIN. 


187 


clined  to  dissent.  With  regard  to  the  alleged  offer  of  Mr. 
Huntington  to  construct  the  harbor  at  Santa  Monica  for 
nothing,  Mr.  Cannon  said  that  he  had  no  official  knowl- 
edge of  it,  but  that  it  would  not  influence  the  Committee's 
decision  to  give  the  appropriation  to  San  Pedro  for  the 
construction  of  the  harbor  in  acordance  with  the  Act  of  '96. 
Mr.  Grosvenor  then  proposed  that  the  matter  should  go  over 


HENRY  A.  COOPER,  M.  C.,  Wisconsin. 

to  the  next  day,  when  Mr.  Henry  A.  Cooper,  of  Wisconsin, 
took  the  floor,  and  in  very  plain  language  demanded  to 
know  what  all  this  meant.  Was  it  an  effort  to  open  up  the 
question  again  ?  He  said : 

This  matter  of  San  Pedro  harbor  is  to  me  in  many  re- 
spects the  most  astonishing  that  I  have  ever  encountered 
since  I  have  had  a  seat  in  this  House.  I  do  not  believe  it  ever 
had  its  counterpart  in  the  legislative  history  of  the  coun- 
try  Is  it  not  strange  that  after  two  Boards 

of  Engineers  had  said  that  San  Pedro  was  the  only  place 
to  improve,  nevertheless,  the  provision  was  inserted  in  the 
bill  of  the  last  session  for  the  improvement  of  Santa  Monica 
at  an  expense  of  $2,900,000?  Not  one  single  member  of 


1 88  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

either  branch  of  Congress  from  California  wanted  it,  save 
only  one  man,  and  he  is  the  only  man  who  voted  for  the 
Funding  Bill.  Does  the  light  begin  to  break  ?  We  could  not 
get  the  appropriation  for  San  Pedro.  The  bill  went  to  the 
Senate,  and  after  a  great  deal  of  discussion  there,  they  finally 
inserted  in  the  bill  the  provision 'for  the  appointment  of  an 
entirely  new  board — unprecedented  in  the  history  of  harbors 
in  the  United  States.  This  board,  by  a  majority  of  four  to 
one,  reported  in  favor  of  confirming  the  decisions  of  the  for- 
mer two  boards.  And  notwithstanding  that,  a  persistent,  un- 
remitting, unrelenting,  determined  effort  has  been  made  to 
defeat  that  measure,  and  prevent  the  improvement  of  San 
Pedro  harbor.  Letters  have  been  written,  interviews  have 
been  had,  alleged  questions  about  the  proper  construction  to 
be  put  upon  the  law  have  been  asked,  and  finally  the  opinion 
of  the  Attorney  General  has  been  sought,  and  we  have  his 
decision  in  favor  of  San  Pedro  added  to  all  the  others. 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  anything  ought  to  be  passed  by 
this  committee  and  this  House — if  not  another  provision  in 
the  bill  passes  this  provision  ought  to  pass.  [Applause.] 

It  is  time  that  people,  who  propose  to  fight,  as  these 
have,  violating  every  precedent,  who  at  last  get  a  decision 
from  the  Attorney  General,  and  then  question  his  opinion — 
it  is  time  that  they  should  be  taught  a  lesson  that  the  patience 
of  the  American  people  on  this  subject  has  been  exhausted. 

No  question  ever  presented  to  me  since  I  have  been  a 
member  of  this  House  has  struck  me  with  as  much  astonish- 
ment as  this.  I  have  never  known  anything  like  so  deter- 
mined a  fight  to  thwart  the  will  of  the  people,  to  prevent  the 
carrying  out  of  just  laws,  in  the  interest  of  private  individ- 
uals and  of  one  corporation.  And  now  these  people,  who 
have  been  defeated  year  in  and  year  out  in  their  efforts  to 
establish  a  harbor  at  Santa  Monica,  come  in  and  say :  "We 
will  build  a  harbor  and  give  it  to  the  United  States,  if  you 
will  put  it  where  the  engineers  of  the  United  States  Army 
think  it  ought  not  to  go." 

Mr.  Cooper's  remarks  put  a  stop  to  the  discussion.  The 
item  was  passed  without  further  question.  It  was  evident 
from  the  reception  which  the  House  gave  to  the  Wisconsin 
man's  utterance  that  that  body  was  not  inclined  to  consider 
any  new  propositions  from  Mr.  Huntington,  and  if  Mr. 
Grosvenor  or  any  one  else  had  something  ready,  he  evidently 
thought  best  to  withdraw  it  until  a  more  favorable  oppor- 
tunity should  appear. 


SENATOR  STEWART'S  AMENDMENT.          189 

That  evening  Mr.  Cooper  received  a  telegram  from  John 
F.  Francis,  informing  him  that  several  thousand  men  m 
Los  Angeles  and  Southern  California  were  drinking  his 
health. 

When  the  bill  came  up  to  the  Senate,  March  24,  1898,  a 
proposition  of  an  entirely  new  order  was  offered  by  Senator 
Stewart  of  Nevada. 

If  the  Heldmaier  &  Neu  bid  were  accepted  it  would  ap- 
parently leave  a  margin  of  $1,600,000  unexpended.*  Sen- 


UEUT.  COL.  W.  H.   H.  BENYAURD. 

ator  Stewart,  who  had  been  a  warm  friend  of  the  Santa 
Monica  plan,  saw  here  the  opportunity  to  secure  that  im- 
provement, and  he  offered  an  amendment  that  the  appropri- 
ation of  $400,000  be  applied  pro  rata  upon  both  harbors, 
provided  the  Secretary  of  War  was  able  to  contract  with 
some  responsible  party  for  the  construction  of  both  at 
some  figure  within  the  $2,900,000.  But  the  Senate  had  by 
this  time  become  as  completely  a  San  Pedro  body  as  the 


*/.  <?.,  if  the   estimates  of  the  Walker  Board  as  to  the  total  amount 
of  stone  necessary  for  the  construction  of  the  break-water  were  correct. 


IQO  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

Free  Harbor  League  itself,  and  the  amendment  was 
promptly  voted  down. 

Then  followed  four  more  months  of  waiting.  The  re- 
port of  the  engineering  authorities  of  the  Department  on 
the  bids  was  filed  February  28,  1898,  but  it  was  not  until 
July  21  of  that  year  Secretary  Alger  found  time  to  ap- 
prove the  bid  and  order  a  contract  to  be  drawn,*  and  it  was 
not  until  th  following  spring,  April  of  1899,  that  the  work 
actually  began. 

The  question  that  the  people  of  Los  Angeles  frequently 
.ask  is  this :  If  the  decision  of  the  Board  had  been  for  Santa 
Monica,  instead  of  San  Pedro,  would  Secretary  Alger  have 
deliberately  wasted  two  whole  years  on  every  conceivable 
form  of  excuse  in  getting  the  work  started,  or  did  lie  merely 
play  his  part  in  a  well-organized  but  unsuccessful  plot? 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  SAN  PEDRO  JUBILEE. 

WHEN  the  last  doubt  as  to  the  actual  beginning  of 
work  on  San  Pedro  harbor  had  died  away,  it  was 
decided  to  hold  a  celebration  of  a  suitable  character  to  com- 
memorate the  contest  and  the  starting  of  the  enterprise. 
The  date  of  April  26-27,  1899,  was  fixed  for  the  event,  and 
committees  were  appointed  from  a  public  meeting  called  at 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  to  undertake  the  work  of  prep- 
aration. 

The  presidency  of  the  organization  and  the  general  man- 
agement of  the  work  was  placed  upon  Mr.  W.  B.  Cline,  who 
had  been  a  Director  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  an 
active  worker  in  the  harbor  cause.  Mr.  Cline's  high 
standing  as  a  business  man,  his  social  popularity  and  his 
experience  in  public  enterprises  gave  him  special  fitness  for 
the  work  he  was  to  undertake.  The  Secretaryship  was 
filled  by  Mr.  George  W.  Parsons,  an  active  League  member 
and  Chamber  of  Commerce  Director,  who  was  assisted  by  a 
very  capable  young  man  with  special  qualification  for  this 
class  of  work,  Mr.  D.  C.  McGarvin. 


*  The  entire  California  delegation  called  upon  the  President  and  urged 
that  he  examine  into  the  Secretary's  behavior.     That  ended  the  delay. 


THE  FIRST  LOAD  OF  ROCK. 


191 


The  city  of  Los  Angeles  was  for  a  number  of  years  ac- 
customed to  hold  a  local  celebration  in  the  spring  time, 
called  La  Fiesta,  which  was  a  perpetuation  of  the  ancient 
Spanish  festivals.  The  previous  year  this  celebration  had 
been  abandoned  on  account  of  the  Spanish  war,  and  this 
year  it  was  decided  to  merge  it  into  the  San  Pedro  affair — 
or  to  speak  more  exactly — to  give  the  San  Pedro  celebration 
some  Fiesta  features. 

The  Jubilee  was  arranged  to  last  through  two  days.  On 
.the  first  of  these  was  to  be  a  gathering  at  San  Pedro  with 


speeches  and  a  barbecue,  and  on  the  second  a  flower  parade 
and  other  ceremonies  in  Los  Angeles.  As  one  of  the  fea- 
tures of  the  Jubilee,  it  was  proposed  to  hold  a  South- 
western Commercial  Congress,  made  up  of  representatives 
from  the  commercial  bodies  of  California,  Nevada,  Utah, 


192  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  and  invitations  were  sent  out  for 
that  purpose. 

Wednesday,  April  26th,  1899,  the  formal  beginning  of 
the  harbor  work  took  place  in  San  Pedro  and  was  ac- 
companied by  appropriate  ceremonies.  About  20,000  peo- 
ple were  carried  from  Los  Angeles  and  the  surrounding  ter- 
ritory down  to  the  ancient  port.  The  majority  of  these 
came  by  the  Terminal  road,  as  the  Southern  Pacific  had 


D.  C.  McGARVIN. 

manifested  some  disapproval  of  the  celebration.  The  people 
assembled  near  Point  Fermin,  where  one  of  the  Heldmaier 
&  Neu  barges,  loaded  with  rock,  lay  ready  for  the  dumping. 
Word  was  then  telegraphed  to  President  McKinley  at 
Washington  that  all  was  ready,  and  he  touched  an  electric 
button  in  his  library  in  the  White  House,  whereby  the 
machinery  was  set  in  motion  to  fill  the  air  chambers  of  the 
barge,  thus  causing  it  to  roll  over  on  one  side  and  the 
rock  to  tumble  off  into  the  water.  Unfortunately,  however, 
the  mechanism  of  the  new  barge  failed  to  work  properly, 
and  the  stone  had  at  last  to  be  pushed  off  by  hand  with  much 
hard  labor.  This  was  accepted  as  symbolic  of  the  entire 


SPEECHES  AT  THE  JUBILEE.  193 

harbor  undertaking.  Nothing  about  it  had  come  easily; 
it  was  all  hard  work,  and  but  for  the  most  tremendous  indi- 
vidual and  community  exertion,  it  could  never  have  been  at- 
tained. After  the  first  stone  was  unloaded,  the  speeches 
of  the  day  were  heard.  Charles  Cassatt  Davis,  the  chair- 
man of  the  occasion,  read  a  telegram  which  he  had  just  re- 
ceived from  President  McKinley,  congratulating  the  people 
of  Southern  California  on  the  beginning  of  this  great  com- 
mercial work. 

The  first  place  on  the  programme  was  accorded  to  the 
Governor  of  California,  Mr.  Henry  T.  Gage  of  Los  Angeles, 
who  more  than  thirty  years  before  had  herded  sheep  over 
the  country  lying  between  San  Pedro  and  the  city.  He  said : 

The  corner-stone  of  commerce  of  this  part  of  the  State  is 
now  auspiciously  laid  by  the  actual  work  of  this  harbor 
improvement  for  which  you  have  so  long  and  anxiously 
waited. 

In  this  hour  of  your  jubilee,  expressive  of  your  happiness 
upon  the  outcome  of  your  struggle  for  a  deep-sea  harbor, 
it  affords  me  the  highest  gratification  as  your  fellow  citizen 
to  greet  here  to-day  that  able,  honorable,  independent  and 
distinguished  gentleman,  Hon.  Stephen  M.  White,  and  to 
add  my  tribute  of  respect  to  the  ability,  energy  and  labors 
which  he  unselfishly  bestowed  in  our  behalf,  and  which  cul: 
minated  in  the  selection  by  the  national  government  of  this 
splendid  bay  as  a  place  for  a  great  southern  port.  Senator 
White,  an  ideal  public  servant,  was  fully  awake  to  your  need 
for  this  harbor,  and  he  therefore  always  readily  responded 
to  your  just  and  earnest  appeal. 

Stephen  M.  White — whose  term  as  United  States  Senator 
was  now  at  an  end — followed  in  a  powerful  and  eloquent 
speech.  He  began  as  follows  : 

FellowT-citizens :  Great  military  triumphs  have  in  all  ages, 
sometimes  justly,  sometimes  without  reason,  been  succeeded 
by  elaborate  displays,  and  long  and  loud  applause,  including 
the  many  forms  through  which  men  have  exhibited  their 
enthusiastic  satisfaction — their  indescribable  delight.  But 
however  majestic  these  achievements,  yet  in  numerous  in- 
stances many  of  their  incidents  are  susceptible  of  justification 
only  in  so  far  as  they  have  been  essential  to  promote  civiliz- 
ation, to  defend  it  from  direct  encroachment.  No  one  fails 
to  regret  the  loss  of  life  and  property  which  war  involves, 


194  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

the  sacrifices  and  sorrows  thus  begotten.  It  is  for  this  rea- 
son that  a  mere  whim  or  momentary  desire  for  conquest  can- 
not be  the  basis  of  rational  approval,  but  that,  as  I  have  said, 
there  must  be  something  virtuous  in  the  commencement  and 
beneficial  in  the  product.  We  are  here  to  celebrate  the  com- 
mencement of  a  work  destined  to  last  when  we  and  ours  are 
gone — the  benefits  of  which  only  one  endowed  with  prophecy 
by  divinity  can  for  a  moment  attempt  to  enumerate.  I  refer 
to  the  building  of  the  San  Pedro  breakwater  by  the  govern- 
ment. The  undertaking  is  certain  to  culminate  in  a  harbor 
not  only  fitted  for  local  commerce  or  coastwise  trade,  but 
also  suited  to  the  needs  of  all  merchant  vessels,  and  to  our 
warships  and  those  of  friendly  powers,  plying  in  these 
waters,  needing  for  the  time  being  a  haven  where  they  may 
ride  without  fear.  Nor  is  this  all :  The  United  States  has 
made  giant  strides  in  her  foreign  trade. 

The  excess  of  exports  over  imports  in  1893  was  about 
one  hundred  million  dollars.  This  was  considered  a  most 
promising  indication,  and  excited  general  satisfaction  in 
mercantile  circles;  but  the  excess  of  exports  for  the  twelve 
months  ending  December,  1898,  was  $621,260,535.  The  Bir- 
mingham Daily  Mail  of  January  3,  1899,  declares :  "In  Eng- 
land, we  fully  recognize  that  in  America  we  have  to  compete 
with  a  country  of  unlimited  natural  resources.  Nothing 
could  be  more  remarkable  than  the  statistics  of  the  recent 
exports  of  American  merchandise." 

Mr.  White  then  quoted  from  the  report  of  the  Craighill 
Board  (1892)  the  conclusions  on  the  need  for  a  deep-water 
harbor  near  Los  Angeles  for  future  Oriental  trade  and  for 
the  increased  commerce  of  the  Southwest,  that  would  exist 
when  the  Nicaragua  canal  should  be  finished.  He  con- 
tinued as  follows : 

This  monument  whose  corner-stone  has  just  been  laid 
is  based  on  truth,  it  is  not  erected  to  perpetuate  wrong. 
While  conceived  in  labor  it  represents  only  truth,  honesty  and 
honor.  It  suggests  the  power  of  the  people;  it  rises  because 
of  the  people's  will.  The  dazzling  beauties  of  money — the 
allurements  of  millions  have  not  obscured  the  vision  of  our 
engineer  corps,  and  should  not  impair  our  sight 

When  this  great  work  is  done  it  will  again  be  proved  that 
the  control  of  the  American  people  does  not,  Byron  to  the 
contrary  notwithstanding,  "stop  with  the  shore,"  but  that  we 
move  onward  in  those  paths  of  conquest  where  the  sword 


SENATOR  PERKINS'  VIEWS.  195 

does  not  gleam  and  the  bullet  does  not  kill,  but  where  the 
inventive  and  progressive  American  subdues  by  the  force  of 

his  energy  and  the  magnetism  of  his  personality 

Fellow-citizens :  In  conclusion,  if  I  have  done  anything 
to  bring  to  fruition  the  great  work,  I  have  but  yielded  to 
my  duty.  Proud  of  the  honors  which  I  have  received,  I 
care  more  for  your  approval  than  for  any  official  incum- 
bency. To  succeed  in  an  ambition  to  be  elected  to  high  office 
office  is,  indeed,  pleasant,  but  to  receive  public  congratula- 
tions when  authority  has  passed  and  the  official  is  only  a 
private  citizen,  amounts  to  more  than  an  impartial  indorse- 
ment. I  would  have  done  my  duty  as  I  saw  it,  had  you 
protested.  I  did  as  I  understood  it,  and  you  have  com- 
mended. This  ought  to  be  enough  for  anyone;  it  is  suffi- 
cient to  give  me  a  balmy  pillow. 

The  next  speaker  was  Senator  George  C.  Perkins.  From 
his  remarks  the  following  may  be  quoted : 

It  was  said  that  this  breakwater  would  cost  the  nation 
$3,000,000,  and  the  contract  has  been  let  for  something  over 
one  million.  The  residue  of  the  $3,000,000  appropriated 
should  now  be  devoted  to  the  improvement  of  the  inner  har- 
bor by  dredging  and  other  necessary  work. 

When  this  harbor  is  completed  you  will  need  machine 
shops,  and  other  great  enterprises,  and  they  will  come  within 
the  next  twenty  years,  and  your  boys  will  be  learning  trades 
for  the  building  up  of  a  merchant  marine  to  put  an  end  to 
the  burden  of  $200,000,000,  which  we  are  paying  annually 
to  foreign  countries  for  transporting  our  merchandise  and 
our  people  who  are  traveling  about  the  world.  These  foreign 
countries  had  built  up  their  merchant  marine  through  the  aid 
of  subventions,  subsidies  and  mail  subsidies.  Why  cannot 
America  give  a  few  million  dollars  annually  to  create  a  mer- 
chant marine  through  similar  means?  The  future  of  this 
country  is  laden  with  great  possibilities  along  such  lines. 
Twenty  years  ago  there  was  no  citrus  fruit  shipped  from 
the  State,  but  last  year  you  shipped  18,065  carloads  of  ten 
tons  each  of  citrus  fruit,  with  other  fruits  to  bring  the  total 
up  to  57,000  carloads,  besides  what  we  consumed  and  what 
was  shipped  by  sea,  and  to  this  can  be  added  20,000  carloads 
of  wine  and  brandy,  while  millions  of  tons  of  "grain  are  to 
be  accounted  for  in  the  shipments  from  California.  When 
the  Nicaragua  canal  is  completed  there  will  come  competition 
in  transportation,  which  will  insure  low  freight  rates,  and 
there  can  be  no  cheap  freight  without  competition.  If  my 


196  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

colleague,  Senator  White,  were  the  only  attorney  in  this  sec- 
tion, generous  as  he  is,  what  do  you  suppose  you  would  have 
to  pay  for  law  ?  The  best  regulator  of  transportation  rates 
in  the  world  is  the  little  schooner  plying  up  and  down  the 
coast.  All  reasonable  people  believe  in  railroads,  but  we 
believe  that  they  should  be  so  regulated  that  they  shall  not 
become  monopolies.  We  have  now  two  railroads  entering 
Southern  California,  and  within  ten  years  we  will  have 
two  more. 


R.  J.   WATERS,  M.  C.,  Sixth  District  California. 

Col.  S.  O.  Houghton,  the  father  of  San  Pedro  harbor, 
followed  in  a  brief  historical  sketch  of  the  harbor  and  its 
earliest  development.  Col.  Will  A.  Harris  spoke  of  the 
splendid  future  that  the  construction  of  the  harbor  opened 
before  Los  Angeles.  Judge  James  G.  Maguire,  who  had  rep- 
resented a"  San  Francisco  district  in  Congress  through  all 


GRACEFUL   RECOGNITION.  197 

the  years  of  the  contest,  and  who  had  been  of  great  service 
to  the  San  Pedro  cause,  gave  some  of  the  details  of  the  fight 
in  the  House.  He  was  followed  by  Mayor  James  Phelan  of 
San  Francisco,  who  presented  the  greetings  of  the  Northern 
metropolis.  Mr.  Geo.  S.  Patton  testified  to  the  courageous 
and  determined  work  done  by  the  entire  California  Con- 
gressional delegation  for  San  Pedro,  without  which  the 
victory  could  never  have  been  achieved,  and  Col.  George  H. 
Mendell  spoke  of  the  technical  and  engineering  side  of  the 
work.  The  new  Congressman  from  the  Los  Angeles  dis- 
trict, Mr.  R.  J.  Waters,  was  then  introduced,  and  in  a  pleas- 
ing speech  promised  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  promote  the 
continuance  of  the  harbor  improvement.  Captain  James 
J.  Meyler,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  work,  made  a  few 
appropriate  remarks. 

Mr.  T.  E.  Gibbon  spoke  of  the  value  of  the  service  that 
Mr.  Maguire  had  rendered  at  the  time  when  the  bill  con- 
taining the  provision  for  the  last  Board  was  held  up  in  con- 
ference, and  Mr.  T.  L.  Ford,  the  Attorney-General  of  the 
State,  closed  the  exercises  of  the  day  with  an  eloquent 
tribute  to  the  great  physical  beauty  and  commercial  pro- 
gressiveness  of  the  Southern  section  of  the  State.  A  grand 
barbecue  was  then  served,  at  which  15,000  people  were  fed. 

The  celebration  of  Thursday,  April  27,  began  at  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  where  several  hundred  of  the  most 
active  San  Pedro  workers  were  gathered.  A  large  silver 
loving  cup  was  presented  to  C.  D.  Willard,  who,  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  contest,  was  Secretary  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  but  who  at  this  time  was  general  manager  of 
the  Evening  Express.  A  graceful  presentation  speech  was 
made  by  Mr.  Henry  T.  Hazard.  The  inscription  on  the 
cup  read  as  follows: 

Presented  to 
C.  D.  WILLARD 

By  his  fellow-citizens,  in  token  of  their 

appreciation  of  his  patriotic  and  efficient 

services  as  secretary  of  the  Chamber  of 

Commerce,    in   aiding   to  secure   a  free 

harbor   for  Los   Angeles   at    San  Pedro. 

FREE  HARBOR  JUBILEE. 

April  27,  1899. 


198 


THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 


A  large  crowd  of  people,  headed  by  the  officers  of  the 
Jubilee,  then  proceeded  to  the  office  of  the  Los  Angeles 
Times  to  do  that  newspaper  an  honor  which  is,  perhaps, 
unique  in  the  history  of  American  journalism.  An  English 
paper,  the  London  Times,  once  enjoyed  a  similar  expe- 
rience. A  memorial  tablet  of  granite  had  been  prepared 
some  days  before,  and  had  been  put  in  place  in  the  wall  of 
the  Times  Building,  near  the  corner-stone,  and  it  was  now 
to  be  unveiled  with  appropriate  ceremony.  The  tablet  bore 
the  following  inscription. 


The  speech  of  the  occasion  was  delivered  by  Mr.  T.  E. 
Gibbon,  who,  after  a  short  introduction,  said : 

Your  fellow-citizens  are  mindful  of  the  fact  that  when  this 
contest  first  began  a  great  phalanx  of  wealth  and  power  was 
arrayed  on  the  side  which  they  conceived  to  be  opposed  to 
their  rights  and  privileges;  an  opposition  so  strong  and  re- 
lentless as  to  give  pause  to  anyone  thinking  to  meet  it. 
They  are  also  mindful  of  the  fact  that  at  that  time,  and  with- 
out pausing  to  count  the  odds  opposed,  but  with  the  desire 
and  intent  of  sustaining  the  right  and  advocating  the  truth, 
as  you  saw  it,  your  journal,  enlisted  under  the  banner  of  the 
people's  rights,  waged  unflagging  and  relentless  war  against 
all  the  forces  which  were  seeking  to  enthrall  and  entrammel 
the  commerce  of  our  city  for  all  future  time. 

During  the  more  than  seven  years  which  have  elapsed 
since  this  contest  was  begun,  there  has  never  for  a  moment 


A  REMARKABLE  TRIBUTE.  199 

I  been  a  halt  or  shadow  of  turning  in  your  pursuit  of  the  path 
j  which  you  entered,  a  road  at  the  end  of  which  lay  the  fruition 
of  a  people's  hopes  and  the  vindication  of  a  people's  rights. 
During  that  time  your  fellow-citizens  have  ever  looked  to 
your  columns  for  a  defense  of  these  rights  and  an  expression 
of  the  arguments  to  sustain  and  enforce  them,  and  they  have 
never  looked  in  vain.  No  sculptured  or  lettered  stone  is 
necessary  to  enable  them  to  hold  in  lifelong  memory  the  loyal 
and  patriotic  devotion  which  you  have  shown  to  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  community  which  your  paper  serves,  but  that 
their  children  and  their  children's  children  may  be  taught  the 
lesson  of  remembrance  and  appreciation  for  services  so  rare' 
in  the  purity  of  their  patriotism  and  devotion  to  the  public 
weal  as  they  were  strenuous  and  unflagging  in  their  con- 
stancy and  devotion,  your  fellow-citizens  now  ask  permis- 
sion to  present  to  you  and  to  install  in  the  wall  of  the  home 
of  your  journal  the  tablet  which  I  now  unveil,  bearing  an  in- 
scription intended  to  be  expressive  of  their  sentiments  toward 
'you. 

Here  Mr.  Gibbon  unveiled  the  tablet,  and  read  to  the 
crowd  the  inscription. 

Brigadier-General  Otis,  the  owner  of  the  Times,  was 
absent,  in  active  service  in  the  Philippines,  and  Mr.  Harry 
Chandler,  who  in  his  absence  served  as  general  manager  of 
the  paper,  responded  in  a  few  modest  words,  in  which  he 
gave  due  credit  to  the  people  of  Los  Angeles  for  their 
courage  in  the  long  fight. 

On  this  tablet  is  written:  "Commemorates  their  appre- 
ciation for  services."  That  the  paper  did  render  services 
was  true  only  because  of  the  broad  character  and  farsighted- 
ness of  Los  Angeles'  leading  citizens,  who  in  this  harbor 
fight  were  quick  to  discern  the  right  and  quick  to  act. 

When  the  newspaper  gave  publicity  to  the  facts  of  the 
harbor  fight,  showing  the  magnitude  of  the  contest,  and 
the  relative  merits  of  the  contesting  ports,  then  our  citizens 
of  intelligence  gave  unsparingly  of  their  time  and  money 
to  the  work  of  opposing  selfishness  and  corporate  greed,  and 
to  exposing  corporate  infamy,  to  the  end  that  this  choice  and 
chosen  part  of  the  world  that  we  proudly  call  home  might 
have  a  free  harbor.  Had  the  citizens  been  less  patriotic, 
less  enterprising,  less  generous  or  less  discerning,  the  best 
newspaper  in  the  world  might  have  howled  until  doomsday 
and  have  performed  no  effective  service,  because  without 


200  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

these  qualities  in  the  people  the  printed  word  would  have 
been  carried  to  those  who,  "having  ears  to  hear,  hear  not, 
and  having  eyes  to  see,  see  not." 

Senators  White  and  Perkins,  Judge  Maguire,  and  the 
managing  editor  of  the  paper,  Mr.  L.E.  Mosher,  were  called 
upon,  and  each  spoke  a  few  words. 

In  the  afternoon  of  that  day  a  superb  floral  parade  was 
presented,  which  100,000  people,  from  Los  Angeles  and  the 
surrounding  territory,  witnessed.  It  was  several  miles  in 
length,  and  contained,  besides  the  flower  decked  vehicles, 
a  remarkable  display  by  the  Chinese  of  Los  Angeles  of  .the 
ancient  Oriental  costumes  and  customs,  a  large  company  of 
Spanish  caballeros  or  rough  riders,  the  fire  department  and 
numerous  uniformed  organizations,  chief  among  which  was 
the  Americus  Club  of  Pasadena. 

The  floral  parade  was  fully  up  to  the  high  standard  of 
the  Fiestas  and  contained  over  100  beautifully  decorated 
vehicles.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Jonathan  Club,  Free 
Harbor  League,  State  Normal  School,  Pasadena  High 
School,  Throop  Polytechnic,  and  Los  Angeles  Military 
Academy,  each  appeared  with  a  float  or  a  coach,  and  the 
Mayor  and  Park  Commissioners  turned  out  a  float  of  strik- 
ing beauty.  Among  the  individual  turn-outs  of  special 
excellence  were  those  of  Griffith  J.  Griffith,  W.  B.  Cline, 
Mrs.  S.  M.  Bradbury,  Miss  Jessie  Hartwell,  A.  W.  Skinner, 
Mrs.  D.  S.  Bassett,  F.  G.  Kay,  Robert  McGarvin,  Will 
Knippenberg,  H.  G.  Rissman,  Mrs.  J.  E.  Doty,  Byron 
Erkenbrecher,  M.  Esternaux,  Guillermo  Andrade. 

A  remarkable  illumination  that  night  of  the  business 
section  of  the  city  with  many  thousand  incandescent  lights 
closed  the  Free  Harbor  Jubilee. 


CHAPTER    XX. 
THE    PRESENT    WORK. 

HELDMAIER  &  NEU,  the  contractors  who  offered  the 
lowest  bid  on  the  harbor  work,  were  a  Chicago  firm 
then  engaged  on  the  drainage  canal  and  on  extensive  harbor 
and  canal  work  in  other  sections  of  the  Union.  Long  ex- 
perience with  harbor  pitfalls  had  made  the  people  of  Los 
Angeles  excessively  wary,  and  they  paused  to  look  into  the 
reputation  and  standing  of  the  firm  before  rejoicing  over- 
much at  the  lowness  of  the  bid.  The  investigation  showed 
that  the  Chicago  men  were  entirely  reliable;  that  they  were 
bona  fide,  practical  contractors,  and  not  a  dummy  construc- 
tion company.  Even  Mr.  Alger,  after  taking  six  long 
months  to  investigate  and  think  it  over,  could  find  no  cause 
for  complaint.  The  contract  was  therefore  finally  let  in 
the  summer  of  1898. 

The  specifications  which  accompany  the  contract  call  for 
the  building  of  a  breakwater  about  8500  feet  long  which 
"may  be  increased,  if  found  practicable,  without  exceeding 
an  aggregate  cost  of  $2,900,000."  The  depth  at  mean  low 
water  along  the  site  of  the  work  is  said  to  vary  from  24  to 
52  feet.  This  will  call  for  a  total  of  2,290,000  long  tons 
of  stone.  The  amount  of  stone  would  fill  92,000  cars  or 
3,680  trains. 

The  method  of  work  is  as  follows :  The  foundation  layer 
consists  of  small  stones,  weighing  from  5  pounds  up  to  100 
pounds,  and  these  are  spread  over  the  bottom  of  the  ocean, 
two  feet  thick  and  as  wide  as  may  be  necessary  to  hold  the 
general  structure,  whose  bottom  width  varies  with  depth  of 
the  water.  On  this  foundation  lies  the  substructure,  which 
consists  of  two  parts,  that  below  the  "plane  of  rest,"  which 
is  a  plane  12  feet  below  mean  low  water  and  that  above  it. 
The  whole  substructure  is  to  be  made  of  stone  that  is  hard 
and  durable  and  not  liable  to  disintegrate  in  sea  water,  and 
must  weigh  when  dry  at  least  130  pounds  to  the  cubic  foot. 
No  stone  is  to  weigh  less  than  roo  pounds,  and  one-third  of 
each  load  must  be  made  up  of  stones  of  over  1000  pounds 
each  and  another  third  of  stones  of  over  4000  pounds  each. 


202 


THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 


This  stone,  which  forms  the  great  body  of  the  work,  is  to  be 
dumped  in  from  the  bottom  dumping  barges  on  the  founda- 
tion of  rock  already  laid  up  to  the  plane  of  rest,  55  feet  out 
from  the  center  line  of  the  breakwater  on  the  sea  side  and 
35  feet  out  on  the  harbor  side.  In  short,  at  a  point  12  feet 
below  low  water,  the  wall  will  be  90  feet  wide.  The  upper 
section  of  the  substructure  is  to  be  put  in  place  when  the  sec- 
tion below  the  plane  of  rest  shall  have  had  six  months  for 
settlement.  It  measures  at  the  top,  which  is  near  low  water, 
nineteen  feet  on  each  side  of  the  center  line.  This  gives  it, 
of  course,  a  much  greater  slope  on  the  sea  side  than  on  the 
harbor  side. 

The  superstructure  is  built  of  huge  stones  weighing  from 
6000  to  16,000  pounds  each,  arranged  like  steps,  with  the 
heavier  ones  on  the  sea  side. 

Thus  the  breakwater,  when  finished,  will  show  at  low  tide 
a  flight  of  seven  steps,  with  two  feet  risers  on  the  harbor 


CROSS  SECTION  OF  BREAKWATER  WORK. 

side,  or  of  four  steps  of  about  four  feet  each  on  the  sea  side. 
At  high  tide  only  half  of  the  steps  will  be  visible.  Each 
end  of  the  breakwater  will  be  formed  of  a  single  block  of 
concrete  40  feet  square  and  20  feet  high.  [See  accompany- 
ing diagram.] 

All  bids  were  made  in  two  forms :  The  contractor  might 
have  stone  from  San  Clemente  if  he  choose,  for  nothing,  as 
the  government  own  the  quarries  there,  or  he  might  provide 
stone  from  private  quarries  at  some  nearer  point.  The  Held- 
maier  &  Neu  bid  asked  over  $300,000  more  to  do  the  work 
with  stone  from  private  quarries  than  from  San  Clemente; 
but  when  the  Banning  Bros.,  who  own  Catalina  Island,  and 


THE  PRESENT  SITUATION.  203 

the  Terminal  Railway  had  finished  bidding  against  each 
other,  the  contractors  found  the  stone  on  Catalina  Island 
cheaper  for  actual  use  than  that  on  San  Clemente. 

In  January  of  1899,  Mr.  Peter  W.  Neu,the  junior  member 
of  the  firm,  came  to  Los  Angeles  to  take  charge  of  the 
work,  but  on  the  4th  of  February  he  met  with  an  unfortunate 
accident  in  the  overturning  of  a  tally-ho,  and  his  death 
ensued.  Since  then  the  work  has  been  under  the  supervision 
of  Mr.  Ernest  Heldmaier,  with  Mr.  J.  W.  Wyckoff  in  charge 
at  San  Pedro,  and  Mr.  J.  S.  Anunsen  superintending  the 
quarry  at  Catalina.  The  rock  is  obtained  from  a  point  near 
the  Isthmus,  13  miles  from  Avalon. 

Four  barges  have  been  thus  far  constructed,  two  of  which 
will  carry  800  tons  each  and  two  1400  tons  each.  At  the 
present  time  about  2600  tons  of  rock  is  placed  in  the  break- 
water every  week.  When  the  barges  are  all  constructed 
they  will  deliver  about  2500  tons  per  day.  It  will  take  be- 
tween four  and  five  years  to  finish  the  work. 

Within  two  years  the  harbor  will  begin  to  prove  ser- 
viceable, particularly  for  purposes  of  refuge.  To  make  it 
valuable  for  commerce,  a  long  wharf  must  be  constructed, 
costing  perhaps  half  as  much  as  the  one  that  now  stands  at 
Santa  Monica.  The  Southern  Pacific  is  not  likely  to  build 
such  a  wharf  at  present,  and  no  other  corporation  or  indi- 
vidual is  in  a  position  to  be  sufficiently  benefited  to  justify  its 
immediate  construction. 

The  commercial  situation  with  regard  to  the  harbor  is, 
indeed,  somewhat  peculiar,  and  needs  to  be  analyzed  to  be 
understood.  The  report  of  the  Craighill  Board,  it  \vill  be 
remembered,  called  for  a  single  curved  breakwater,  connect- 
ing with  the  shore,  extending  out  8200  feet  into  the  ocean 
and  20  feet  wide.  On  this  it  was  supposed  two  railway 
tracks  would  be  laid,  and  on  the  harbor  side  short  piers  would 
be  constructed;  and  in  this  way  ship  and  rail  could  be 
brought  together.  The  excellence  of  this  plan  formed  the 
basis  of  many  an  argument  in  favor  of  San  Pedro.  But  the 
Walker  Board  held  that  it  was  impracticable,  and  gave 
the  breakwater  a  different  form.  The  result  is  a  harbor 
which  is.  as  the  W^alker  Board  says,  available  for  com- 
merce, but  it  is  not  immediately  and  conveniently  available. 

It  was  always  assumed  by  the  deep-water  harbor  advocates 


204  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

that  when  the  government  should  decide  to  undertake  the 
project,  it  would  include  with  the  work  a  considerable  im- 
provement of  the  inner  harbor.  Lieut-Col.  Benyaurd  had  de- 
veloped a  plan  for  18  feet  of  water  at  low  tide,  which  would 
admit  much  of  the  coastwise  trade.  This  was  to  cost  under 
$400,000,  and  it  was  regarded  as  so  eminently  desirable  by 
the  members  of  the  Free  Harbor  League  that  many  of  them 
believed  it  would  take  precedence  over  any  consideration  of 
an  outside  harbor.  The  reader  who  has  followed  this  nar- 
rative will  remember  that  the  League  asked  nothing  more 
than  the  interior  harbor  improvement  at  the  beginning  of  the 
harbor  campaign  of  1896,  but  when  it  was  discovered  that, 
for  some  mysterious  reason,  there  was  an  anxiety  on  the  part 
of  the  River  and  Harbor  committee  and  the  Commerce  Com- 
mittee to  spend  $3,000,000  on  Santa  Monica,  the  whole  of 
that  sum  was  promptly  claimed  for  San  Pedro.  In  this 
way  the  work  came  to  be  done  somewhat  out  of  the  natural 
and  logical  order.  It  is  as  though  a  community  should  con- 
struct an  enormous  bridge  with  its  approaches  so  small  as 
to  make  a  great  part  of  the  structure  useless. 

The  difficulty  is  of  only  a  temporary  character,  and  will 
be  remedied  either  by  the  building  of  piers  into  the  outer 
harbor  by  private  enterprise  or  by  the  improvement  of  the 
inner  harbor  by  government  action. 

The  work  which  now  lies  before  the  people  of  Los  Angeles 
is  to  secure  an  additional  appropriation  for  the  inside  harbor 
work.  The  first  step  has  been  already  taken  in  this  direction 
by.  Senator  White,  who  introduced  in  the  last  session  of  Con- 
gress a  resolution  instructing  the  engineers  of  the  govern- 
ment to  investigate  the  interior  harbor  of  San  Pedro  with 
a  view  to  ascertaining  its  possibilities  for  further  develop- 
ment. A  preliminary  investigation  has  been  made  by 
Capt.  J.  J.  Meyler,  and  a  thorough  survey  will  presently  be 
undertaken.  The  report  which  in  all  probability  will  be 
made  to  the  next  Congress  will  outline  several  projects  of 
varying  cost  from  that  of  Lieut.-Col.  Benyaurd  for  18  feet, 
at  a  cost  of  $400,000,  to  that  proposed  by  Mr.  White,  which 
involves  the  construction  of  a  large  and  deep  interior  basin 
at  a  cost  of  over  a  million.  From  among  these  projects 
Congress  will  make  a  choice,  and  will  continue  and  com- 


THE  FIGHT  IS  OVER.  205 

plete  in  the  interior  harbor  the  work  begun  by  the  construc- 
tion of  the  breakwater. 

The  amount  originally  appropriated  was  $2,900,000,  of 
which  the  Heldmaier  &  Neu  contract  calls  for  $1,303,198. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  amount  of  stone  re- 
quired in  the  construction  of  the  breakwater  is  not  a  known 
definite  quantity,  but  it  is  estimated,  with  the  understand- 
ing that  if  the  amount  needed  goes  beyond  the  estimate,  the 
contractors  are  to  furnish  the  remainder  at  the  same  price 
per  ton.  Thus,  while  we  know  that  the  breakwater  will  not 
cost  less  than  $1,300,000,  we  do  not  know  how  much  more 
than  that  sum  it  may  cost.  There  is  a  tendency  on  the  part 
of  such  works  to  exceed  the  estimates.  Yet  the  margin  in 
this  case  is  so  considerable — $1,600,000 — that  Congress 
is  likely  to  take  this  into  consideration  in  deciding  whether 
the  San  Pedro  inner  harbor  shall  receive  the  appropriation 
necessary  to  make  the  whole  project  of  commercial  value. 

In  other  words,  having  shown  a  willingness  to  spend 
$2,900,000  on  this  improvement,  Congress  may  be  expected 
to  care  very  little  whether  it  is  to  be  spent  on  the  outside  or 
the  inside  harbor.  This  is  an  engineering  detail;  and  yet 
action  by  Congress  must  be  had  in  order  to  secure  the 
money. 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  efforts  of  the  people 
of  Los  Angeles  to  secure  a  logical  and  a  necessary  enlarge- 
ment of  the  harbor  work  will  meet  with  any  further  opposi- 
tion from  Mr.  Huntington.  As  the  government  is  now  irre- 
trievably committed  to  the  San  Pedro  site,  the  main  ques- 
tion will  not  be  opened  again,  and  no  motive  can  exist  for 
interfering  with  a  mere  detail  of  the  general  project.  Such 
sentiments  as  desire  for  revenge  or  chagrin  over  defeat  are 
not  to  be  attributed  to  a  man  of  Mr.  Huntington's  breadth 
and  strength.  As  Mr.  Arthur  McEwen  sagely  observes, 
while  corporations  have  no  souls,  they  are  also  without  the 
petty  passions  of  individuals,  their  spite  and  anger  and  pride. 
It  is  Mr.  Huntington's  chief  purpose  in  life  to  develop  and 
enlarge  and  strengthen  the  various  commercial  interests 
that  are  under  his  control,  and  it  is  quite  incredible  that  he 
should  turn  aside  from  the  great  purposes  in  which  he  is 
engaged  wantonly  to  attack  those  who  lie  out  of  his  path. 
This  matter  is  referred  to  here,  because  it  is  a  not  infrequent 


206  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

subject  of  conjecture  and  discussion  in  Los  Angeles  among 
those  who  devoted  years  to  the  harbor  contest,  and  who 
are  prepared  to  continue  with  the  work  until  their  full  pur- 
pose is  achieved.  Among  these  people  there  exists  no  un- 
friendly sentiment  toward  Mr.  Huntington — indeed,  many 
of  them  confess  to  a  feeling  of  considerable  admiration  for 
him.  They  will  admit  without  equivocation  that  the  har- 
bor is,  in  one  sense,  owed  to  Mr.  Huntington;  for  it  was  his 
powerful  arm  that  reached  over  the  heads  of  all  our  rep- 
resentatives, in  a  year  when  economy  in  national  expendi- 
ture was  especially  demanded,  and  gathered  in  the  great  sum 
that  was  needed  for  the  work.  The  appropriation  once  al- 
lowed for  a  harbor  near  Los  Angeles,  the  superior  merit  of 
San  Pedro,  backed  up  by  a  strong  fight,  placed  the  improve- 
ment where  the  people  of  Southern  California  believe  it  prop- 
erly belongs.  Mr.  Huntington's  plans  were  defeated;  but 
it  is  not  impossible  for  him  to  revise  those  plans  to  fit  the 
new  conditions.  Los  Angeles  will  become  a  great  city,  and 
will  serve  as  the  western  gateway  to  an  enormous  commerce 
across  the  Pacific.  In  the  development  of  their  large  mu- 
tual interests  it  is  best  for  the  people  of  Los  Angeles  and 
for  the  owners  of  the  Southern  Pacific  that  friendship  and 
good  will  and  unity  should  take  the  place  of  the  warfare 
that  has  existed  through  a  long  term  of  years.  The  original 
cause  of  the  difficulty,  the  question  of  the  site  of  the  deep- 
sea  harbor,  has  now  been  removed;  and  it  will  certainly  not 
be  the  fault  of  the  intelligent  business  men  of  Los  Angeles 
if  this  unfortunate  breach  between  the  railway  and  the 
people  is  allowed  to  continue  and  to  grow  wider. 


APPENDIX. 


The  full  text  of  the  two  items  in  the  Bill  of  1896  relating  to  San 
Pedro  and  Santa  Monica  is  as  follows  : 

For  a  deep  water  harbor  of  commerce  and  of  refuge  at  Port  Los  An- 
geles in  Santa  Monica  Bay,  California,  or  at  San  Pedro,  in  said  State, 
the  location  of  said  harbor  to  be  determined  by  an  officer  of  the  navy, 
an  officer  of  the  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey,  to  be  detailed  by  the 
Superintendent  of  said  survey,  and  three  experienced  civil  engineers, 
skilled  in  riparian  work,  to  be  appointed  by  the  President,  who  shall 
constitute  a  Board,  and  who  shall  personally  examine  said  harbors,  the 
decision  of  a  majority  of  which  shall  be  final  as  to  the  location  of  said 
harbor.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  Board  to  make  plans,  specifications 
and  estimates  for  said  improvement.  Whenever  said  Board  shall  have 
settled  the  location,  and  made  report  to  the  Secretary  of  War  of  the 
same,  with  said  plans,  specifications  and  estimates,  the  Secretary  of 
War  may  make  contracts  for  the  completion  of  the  improvement  of  the 
harbor  so  selected  by  said  Board,  according  to  the  project  reported  by 
them,  at  a  cost  not  exceeding  in  the  aggregate  two  million,  nine  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars,  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  is  hereby  appropriated, 
so  much  thereof  as  may  be  necessary  to  be  used  for  the  expenses  of  the 
Board  and  payment  of  the  civil  engineers  for  their  services,  the  amount 
to  be  determined  by  the  Secretary  of  War  :  Provided,  however,  That  if 
the  Board  hereby  constituted,  as  in  this  section  provided,  shall  determine 
in  favor  of  the  construction  of  a  breakwater  at  Port  Los  Angeles,  no 
expenditure  of  any  part  of  the  money  hereby  appropriated  shall  be 
made,  nor  shall  any  contract  for  the  construction  of  such  breakwater 
be  entered  into,  until  the  Southern  Pacific  Company  or  the  owner  or 
owners  thereof,  shall  execute  an  agreement,  and  file  the  same  with  the 
Secretary  of  War,  that  any  railroad  company  or  any  corporation  engaged 
in  the  business  of  transportation,  may  share  in  the  use  of  the  pier  now 
constructed  at  Port  Los  Angeles  and  the  approaches  and  tracks  leading 
thereto,  situate  westerly  of  the  easterly  entrance  to  the  Santa  Monica 
tunnel,  upon  such  just  and  equitable  terms  as  may  be  agreed  upon  be- 
tween the  parties,  and  if  they  fail  to  agree,  then  to  be  determined  by 
the  Secretary  of  War,  and  before  the  expenditure  of  the  money  hereby 
appropriated  is  made  for  the  construction  of  a  breakwater  at  Port  Los 
Angeles,  said  Southern  Pacific  Company,  or  the  owner  of  the  tracks 
and  approaches  leading  to  said  pier,  shall  execute  an  agreement  and  file 
the  same  with  the  Secretary  of  War,  that  any  railroad  or  transportation 
company  or  corporation  desiring  to  construct  a  wharf  or  pier  in  Santa 
Monica  Bay  may,  for  the  purpose  of  approaching  such  wharf  or  pier, 
and  for  purpose  of  constructing  and  operating  the  same,  cross  the  track 
or  tracks,  approaches  and  right  of  way  now  used  by  the  Southern  Pacific 
Company,  under  such  regulations  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  Secretary 
of  War,  and  upon  the  payment  of  such  compensation  as  that  officer 
may  find  to  be  reasonable  :  Provided  further,  That  in  the  event  said 


208  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

harbor  is  located  at  Port  Los  Angeles,  no  greater  royalty  for  the  rock 
used  in  construction  of  the  breakwater  than  twelve  and  a  half  cents  a 
cubic  yard  shall  be  charged,  and  the  Southern  Pacific  Company  shall 
charge  no  more  than  half  a  cent  a  ton  per  mile  for  freight  on  rock 
transported  over  its  road. 

Improving  Wilmington  Harbor,  California,  in  accordance  with  the 
project,  submitted  February  7th,  1895,  fifty  thousand  dollars  : 

Provided,  That  contracts  may  be  entered  into  by  the  Secretary  of  War 
for  such  materials  and  work  as  may  be  necessary  to  complete  such 
project,  to  be  paid  for  as  appropriations  may  from  time  to  time  be  made 
by  law,  not  to  exceed  in  the  aggregate  three  hundred  and  forty-two 
thousand  dollars,  exclusive  of  the  amount  herein  appropriated  ;  but  no 
such  contracts  shall  be  entered  into  until  the  Board  provided  for  in 
this  act  to  determine  the  location  of  a  deep-water  harbor  for  commerce 
and  of  refuge,  as  between  Port  Los  Angeles  in  Santa  Monica  Bay  and 
San  Pedro,  in  the  State  of  California,  has  made  its  report  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  and  not  at  all  if  said  report  shall  be  in  favor  of  San  Pedro 
for  the  location  of  said  harbor. 


FREE  HARBOR  LEAGUE. 


The  roll  of  members  of  the  Free  Harbor  League  contained  the  fol- 
lowing :  ; 

Allen  Bros,  &  Co.,  fruit  shippers,  Arnott  &  Sumner,  farm  implements, 
Anderson  &  Chanslor,  grocers,  M.  N.  A  very,  cashier  German  Savings 
Bank,  Fred  L.  Alles,  printer,  Wm.  H.  Avery,  attorney,  Avery  Staub 
Shoe  Co.,  Harry  E.  Brook,  journalist,  G.  B.  Barham,  notary  public,  F. 
W.  Braun,  wholesale  druggist,  John  Bradbury,  capitalist,  Bradshaw  Bros. , 
real  estate,  B.  R.  Baumgardt&Co.,  printers  and  publishers,  John  Bloser, 
carpet-cleaning  works,  Bartlett  Bros.,  music  store,  John  Burr,  sheriff,  N. 
T.  Ball,  cigars,  L.  W.  Blinn,  lumber,  R.  W.  Burnham,  manager  Dun  & 
Co.,  A.  C.  Bilicke,  Hollenbeck  Hotel,  Blanchard-Fitzgerald  Co.,  musical 
instruments,  M.  A.  Bronson,  real  estate,  G.  W.  Burton,  publisher,  Bar- 
ker Bros  ,  furniture,  Boston  Dry  Goods  Co.,  W.  S.  Boerstler,  lumber,  C. 
A.  Bradley,  surveyor,  O.  T.  Bassett,  lumber,  M.  N.  Conkling,  attorney, 
George  Carson,  capitalist,  John  M.  Carson,  landowner,  Alfred  Craw- 
ford, coal,  E.  J.  Curson,  coal,  K.  Cohn  &  Co.,  commission  merchants, 
Calkins  &  Clapp,  real  estate,  Coulter  Dry  Goods  Co.,  C.  S.  Compton,  city 
engineer,  D.  R.  Collins,  jewelry,  Cortelyou  &  Griffin,  insurance,  F.  T. 
Capitain,  architect,  W.  E.  Dunn,  City  Attorney,  William  B.  Dunning, 
manager  Chicago  Clothing  Co.,  H.  C.  Dillon,  attorney,  T.  L.  Duane, 
banker,  F.  C.  Devendorf,  agent,  C.  E.  Day,  real  estate,  W.  A.  Driscoll, 
lumber,  O.  R.  Dougherty,  capitalist,  Boaz  Dnncan,  real  estate,  Fred 
Dorn  architect,  Eyraud  Bros.,  grocers,  J.  G.  Eagleson,  men's  furnishing 
goods,  A.  A.  Eekstrom,  wall  paper,  J.  M.  Elliott,  president  First  Na- 
tional Bank,  J.  F.  Francis,  capitalist,  C.  Forrester,  real  estate,  E.  A.  For- 
rester, real  estate,  M.  N.  Francis,  A.  J.  Fleishman,  banker,  A.  W.  Fran- 
cisco, county  super  visor,  Wm.  Ferguson,  livery  stable,  E.  M.  Frasee,  book- 
keeper, T.  J.  Fleming,  county  treasurer,  J.  T.  Gaffey,  Collector  of  Port, 


APPENDIX.  209 

T.  E.  Gibbon,  attorney,  Grider  &  Dow,  real  estate,  G.  J.  Griffith,  capi- 
talist, Godfrey  &  Moore,  druggists,  George  Gebhard,  capitalist,  Grimes 
&  Stassforth,  stationery,  A.  B.  Greenwald,  cigars,  F.  A.  Gibson,  bank 
cashier,  J.  T.  Griffith,  insurance,  Guenther  &  Bernhard,  restauranteurs, 
Goldschmidt  Bros.,  Sunset  Wine  Co.,  Gardner  &  Zellner,  pianos, 
Ganahl  Lumber  Co.,  L.  W.  Goden,  shoes,  J.  M.  Glass,  Chief  of  Police, 
Warren  Gillelen,  capitalist,  H.  Hawgood,  civil  engineer,  George  Hines, 
wholesale  butcher,  Hayden  &  Lewis,  wholesale  saddlery,  J.  F.  Hum- 
phreys, real  estate,  B.  A.  Holmes,  broker,  Harper  &  Reynolds  Co.,  hard- 
ware, Hawley,  King  &  Co.,  carriages,  J.  A.  Henderson,  hardware,  W.  A. 
Hartwell,  City  Treasurer,  F.  C.  Howes,  banker,  J.  M.  Hale  &  Co.,  dry 
goods,  John  D.  Hooker,  manufacturer,  E.  C.  Hodgman,  County  Re- 
corder, C.  F.  Heinzman,  druggist,  R.  M.  Herron,  petroleum,  James  W- 
Hellman,  hardware,  F.  S.  Hicks,  banker,  R.  H.  Howell,  real  estate,  Phil 
Hirshfeld,  stationery,  C.  A.  Hooper,  lumber,  S.  C.  Hubbell,  attorney,  C. 
K.  Holloway,  attorney,  Investor  Publishing  Co.,  H.  Jevne,  grocer,  F.  O. 
Johnson,  proprietor  Westminster  Hotel,  Jacoby  Bros.,  clothiers,  Johnson 
&  Keeney  Co.,  real  estate,  F.  D.  Jones,  stationery,  Johnson,  Walton  & 
Carvell,  fruit  shippers,  Frank  H.  Jackson,  assayer,  J.  M.  Johnston,  hard- 
ware, E.  W.  Jones,  capitalist,  F.  M.  Kelsey,  public  administrator,  Robert 
Kern,  restauranteur,  Kingsley,  Barnes  &  Neuner  Co.,  printers  and  book- 
binders, Kerckhoff-Cuzner  Mill  and  Lumber  Co.,  John  Koster,  restau- 
ranteur, E.  F.  C.  Klokke,  capitalist,  Paul  Kerkow,  restauranteur,  Ulrich 
Knock,  printer,  Kregelo  &  Breese,  undertakers,  J.  C.  Kirkpatrick,  physi- 
cian, William  Lacy,  president  Puente  Oil  Co.,  Lacy  Manufacturing  Co., 
water  pipe,  I.  L.  Lowman,  hatter,  Charles  A.  Luckenbach,  City  Clerk, 
C.  Laux  &  Co.,  druggists,  Los  Angeles  Lime  Co.,  James  W.  Long,  book- 
binder, T.  J.  Lockhart,  real  estate,  L.  T.  Ledbetter,  contractor,  Los  An- 
geles Farming  and  Milling  Co.,  L.  Long,  merchant  tailor,  H.  T.  Lee, 
attorney,  J.  S.  Moore,  capitalist,  F.  S.  Munson,  councilman,  Mullen, 
Bluett  &  Co.,  clothiers,.  J.  R.  Mathews,  postmaster,  H.  K.  Maynard,  phy- 
sician, Max  Meyberg,  crockery,  F.  L.  Morgan,  book-keeper,  A.  Morris, 
agent,  E.  E.  McKeever,  commission  merchant,  Marschutz  &  Co.,  opti- 
cians, John  E.  Murray,  clerk,  H.  Mosgrove,  cloaks,  Mathews  Implement 
Co.,  Lee  A.  McConnell,  real  estate,  .Robert  McGarvin,  real  estate,  L. 
Melzer,  stationery,  C.  A.  Marriner,  Crescent  Coal  Co.,  A.  Moss 
Merwin,  E.  R.  Meserve,  real  estate,  M.  C.  Marsh,  contractor,  A.  H.  Mer- 
win,  tax  collector,  C.  C.  McComas,  deputy  district  attorney,  Maeder  & 
Priester  Co.,  crockery,  Gran ville  McGo wan,  physician,  A.  McNally,  con- 
tractor, J.  R.  Newberry,  groceries,  H.  Newmark,  hides  and  wool,  Nau- 
erth  &  Cass  Hardware  Co.,  H.  G.  Otis,  editor  Los  Angeles  Times,  H.  W. 
O'Melveny,  attorney,  Owl  Drug  Store,  George  W.  Parsons,  real  estate, 
Milo  M.  Potter,  hotel  proprietor,  Parmelee  &  Co.,  crockery.  Pacific 
Crockery  Co.,  Patten  &  Davies,  lumber,  R.  W.  Pridham,  bookbinder, 
John  E.  Plater,  banker,  R.  W.  Poindexter,  real  estate,  W.  C.  Patterson, 
banker,  J.  N.  Priest,  banker,  A.  E.  Pomeroy,  real  estate,  John  H.  T. 
Peck,  agent,  F.  A.  Pattee,  publisher,  Frank  Rader,  Mayor,  W.  R.  Row- 
land, Puente  Oil  Co.,  F.  K.  Rule,  Terminal  Railway  Co.,  C.  T.  Rose- 
crans,  real  estate,  W.  C.  B.  Richardson,  L-  Roeder,  capitalist,  J.  H- 
Shankland,  attorney,  G.  H.  Stoll,  soda  water,  Nathan  Siegel,  men's  fur- 


210  THE  FREE  HARBOR  CONTEST. 

nishing,  Southern  California  Lumber  Co.,  C.  F.  Shaffer,  lumber,  Sale  & 
Co.,  druggists,  G.  L.  Stearns,  manager  Stearns  Manufacturing  Co.,  M.  P. 
Snyder  Shoe  Co.,  F.  W.  Stedham,  city  health  officer,  C.  L.  Strange,  su- 
perintendent buildings,  Security  Savings  Bank  and  Trust  Co.,  Savings 
Bank  Southern  California,  W.  H.  Stephens,  attorney,  Stewart  &  Naftz- 
ger,  brokers,  C.  A.  Sumner,  real  estate,  R.  B.  Stephens,  agent,  Theo. 
Summerland,  County  Assessor,  Schroeder  Bros.,  painters,  C.  W.  Smith, 
H.  A.  Simpson,  Stephen  &  Hickok,  agents,  Salyer  &  Robinson,  pianos, 
Stimson  Bros.,  real  estate,  J.  Stoltenberg,  collector,  J.  R.  Scott,  attorney, 
Sanborn,  Vail  &  Co.,  pictures,  George  Steckel,  photographer,  Francis  J. 
Thomas,  attorney,  Thomas  Bros.,  hardware,  James  F.  Towell,  manager 
Los  Angeles  Clearing  House,  F.  H.  Teale,  City  Auditor,  J.  H.  Trout, 
druggist,  Union  Hardware  and  Metal  Co.,  Union  Iron  Works,  Union 
Bank  of  Savings,  Union  Oil  Co.  of  California,  Frank  Van  Vleck,  en- 
gineer, B.  F.  Vogel  &  Co.,  druggists,  W.  D.  Woolwine,  banker,  C.  D. 
Willard,  secretary  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Charles  Wier,  manager  South- 
ern California  Lumber  Co.,  W.  H.  Workman,  capitalist,  J.  I.  Watson,  R. 
P.  Winters,  Riverside,  lumber,  Shirley  C.  Ward,  attorney,  H.  J.  Woolla- 
cott,  wholesale  liquors,  E.  T.  Wright,  County  Surveyor,  John  Wigmore, 
wagon  materials,  T.  S  Wadsworth,  real  estate,  S.  O.  Wood,  architect, 
L.  R.  Winans,  manager  lumber  company,  H.  C.  Witmer,  real  estate, 
and  40  of  the  leading  citizens  of  San  Pedro,  members  of  the  San  Pedro 
branch  of  the  Free  Harbor  League. 


COMMITTEES  OF  THE  FREE  HARBOR  JUBILEE 


EXECUTIVE  COMMITTE. 

HONORARY    MEMBERS. 

Hon.  Stephen  M.  White  Col.  George  H.  Mendel. 


W.  B.  Cline  President 

T.  E.  Gibbon,  First  Vice-President 

Geo.  S   Patton,  Second  Vice- President 

George  W.  Parsons,  Secretary 

W.  C.  Patterson,  Treasurer 


Chas.  Form  an  Fred  L  Baker  W.  G.  Nevin 

John  T  Gaffey  Ferd  K.  Rule  John  R  Mathews 

Robert  F.  Jones  Fred  J.  Smith  W.  H.  Workman 

P.  E.  Hatch  A.  P.  Griffith  J  Ross  Clark 

R.  H.  Herron  H.  F.  Norcross  F.  J  Thomas 

G.  W.  Minter  G.  J.  Griffith  H.  Hawgood 

P  M.  Daniel  Kaspare  Cohn 


FINANCE. 

R.  H.  Herron,  Ch'n  C.  H.  Toll  N.  Bonfilio 

M.  H.  Newmark  O.  T.  Johnson  T.  J.  Darmody 

Alonzo  E.  Davis  L.  W  Blinn  M.  Esternaux 

R.  H.  Howell  Robert  McGarvin  Abe  Haas 

J.  R.  Newberry  A  W.  Skinner  M.  H.  Flint 

W.  G.  Kerckhoff  J.  S.  Slauson 

INVITATION  AND  RECEPTION. 

G.  J.  Griffith,  Ch'n  M.  M.  Potter  Homer  Laughlin 

Hon.  Fred  Eaton  F.  M.  Kelsey  J.  A.  Muir 

Herman  Silver  W.  D.  Woolwine  Eugene  Germain 

Dan  Freeman  JO.  Koepfli 


APPENDIX. 


211 


AUXILIARY  FINANCE  COMMITTEE. 


J,  D.  Stewart,  San  Pedro 
P.  E.  Hatch,  Long  Beach 
Robert  F.  Jones,  Santa  Monica 
M.  H.  Weight,  Pasadena 
W.  H.  Barnes,  Ventura 
Stoddard  Jess,  Pomona 
M.  J.  Daniels,  Riverside 
Scipio  Craig,  Redlands 
C.  E.  Bemis,  Covina 


A.  P.  Harwood,  Ontario 
H.  L.  Drew,  San  Bernardino 
Smith  Haile,  San  Bernardino 
N.  W.  Blanchard,  Santa  Paula 
A.  P.  Griffith,  Azusa 
Thos.  R.  Bard,  Hueneme 
G  W.  Minter,  Santa  Ana 
W.  C.  Fuller,  Colton 


FOREIGN  REPRESENTATIVES. 

C.  White  Mortimer,  British  Vice-Consul,  Chairman 
Auguste  Fusenot,  French  Consular  Agent  of  Los  Angeles 
Maximilian  Esternaux,  German  Consular  Agent 
Guillermo  Andrade,  Mexican  Consul 
Victor  Ponet,  Belgian  Vice-Consul 


L.  E.  Mosher,  Ch'n 
W.  A.  Spalding 


W.  G.  Nevin,  Ch'n 
G.  W.  Luce 


PUBLICITY. 


C.  D.  Willard 
Paul  H.  Blades 


TRANSPORTATION. 

S.  B.  Hynes 
F.  W.  Wood 


G.  W.  Burton 


W.  S.  Hook 


Ross  Clark.  Ch'n 
W.  Blanchard 


MUSIC. 


A.  C.  Bilicke 
W.  A.  Harris 


Frank  Van  Vleck 


Thomas  Pascoe,  Ch'n 
E.  L.  Blanchard 


DECORATIONS. 


F.  S.  Munson 
Jas.  W.  Long 


A.  W.  Kinney 
C.  C.  Desmond 


LITERARY  EXERCISES. 


Chas.  Forman,  Ch'n 
J.  M.  Elliott 


Charles  Silent 
C.C.  Davis 


BARBACUE. 


Don  Marco  Forster,  Ch'n    Richard  Egan 
Simon  Maier  W.  R.  Rowland 


John  R.  Mathews,  Ch'n 


NAVAL  DISPLAY. 

George  Gebhard 
R.  R.  Haines 


John  T.  Gaffey,  Ch'n 
Hancock  Banning 


F.  K.  Rule,  Ch'n 
F.  J.  Thomas 
W.  H.  Workman 


John  Alton,  Ch'n 


H.  Hawgood,  Ch'n 
Ad.  Petsch 
L.  F.  Vetter 


WATER  CARNIVAL. 

D.  A.  Moore 
C.  O.  Tucker 

FLORAL  PARADE. 

F.  W.  Kin* 
W.  R.  Burke 
C.  E.  Day 

CHINESE  PARADE. 

J.  D.  Putnam 
NIGHT   FESTIVITIES. 

Ozro  W.  Childs 
C.  F.  Sloan  e 
Robert  Todd 


Geo.  J.  Denis 
Capt.  J.J.  Meyler 


Fred  Harkness 
Walter  S.  Moore 


Wm.  M.  Van  Dyke 


W.  H.  Savage 


John  C.  Cline 
C.  S.  Walton 


G.  N.  Nolan 


H.  S.  McKee 
F.  S.  Hicks 


SOUTHWESTERN  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS. 


T.  E.  Gibbon,  Ch'n 
J.  S.  Slauson 
P.  M.  Daniel 


R.  L.  Craig 
John  T.  Gaffey 
Robert  F.  Jones 


P.  E.  Hatch 
Walter  A.  Edwards 
G.  W.  Minter 


14  DAY  USE 

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General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


FL. 


LOAN  DEPT 


LD  62A-50m-2,'64 
(E3494slO)94l2A 


